FE: Three Houses IF
by Sage's stories
Summary: The story follows our hero Shirou (also known as Rock), a teenage mercenary that has been dropped smack dab into the Officers academy; an academy that is run by the Garreg Mach Monastery. He will go up against many of the threats that come in the was of the monastery and to the rest of Fodlan, alongside many of the other students and newly hired teach Byleth.
1. Chapter 1

Harpstring moon(may)/13, night

It was a clear night, nothing too special. I had found myself in a small village, looking for someone. This was the type of place for someone to go into hiding after a long day worth of stealing. It just so happens I'm looking for someone like that. I had found this certain someone in an ally way, along with some other snickering morons. Guessing they had noticed me because the snickering got a lot worse.

"Hey, kid, don't you know it's dangerous out here?" "You're right sir, but you don't care about that, do you?" "Yeah, you're right." He took out his sword. "Give us everything you got." "I was about to say the same thing. And yes, we're gonna do this the hard way."

As expected, they drew their swords. Two of them came running at me. One was going to thrust their sword at me, so I move out of the and raised my leg fast enough to kick him in the face. In succession, I smashed his head against the wall. The other one was ready to vertical slash me from above. That move was easily exploitable. I moved in fast enough to stop his attack by his wrists. I then delivered a knee to his stomach then a few quick punches that were able to do the trick. I had stomped him on the head to be safe. The last one was shaking like an idiot, too nervous to even make an effort, so he ran away. That left the head of this small group of bandits.

"S-stay back!" "Why, I came for you after all." At that moment, he pulled out a mini crossbow. While not being as powerful as a regular bow, it made up for that flaw in versatile use. "I said stay away." "Hey, if you're going to shoot, then shoot. But the moment you do, I'll crush your hand."

I had slipped right over to him before he could fire the bow. I had grabbed his wrist to put some pressure on it, making him drop the bow. I pushed him. "Wow, always wanted one of these." "What do you want from me!?" "You have a bounty on your head, you've been taking stuff that isn't yours. And the specificity of this job is interesting. You either give back all the stolen goods, or I leave a half beaten bandit in the middle of the town you've been stealing from... What will it be; do you have the goods?" He shook his head no. "Shame, guess we're going with option two then. This might hurt a bit."

...

That night, as the boy dragged the bandit on through the night, he would gaze up at the moon periodically. He had noticed the unusual white shine to it. It was so bright to the part where it had shined on his head. "Huh... Been a while since I last have seen one..." The boy went on to ignore the moon for the rest of the night, however, that was the mark of the winter moon.

Harpstring moon(may)/14, Fodlan, Adrestian Empire, morning

It was morning in the capital of the empire. Strolling through the city wasn't an interest of mine but I had to look for work somehow; bounties that can found on billboards aren't really that good unlike the one from last night. I need to listen to the people on the street for work. There are bound to be some troubled nobles who need the enlistment of someone who can make their problems go away. Unfortunately, I wasn't hearing anything today. Most of his sources weren't telling him anything either.

"Damn, I guess today just isn't my day, huh." I guess it's a good thing that I don't have a job today, it's been a long time since I had the chance to relax, so maybe I shouldn't squander it. As I thought that, my stomach began to speak out. "Welp, guess that means it's time to find something to eat then." With the pocket money I have on me, I can pretty much get anything I want... Eh, most of the fancy crap isn't to my taste, I like something simple. "Hmm, grilled meat would do." Or maybe some grilled fish, no, perhaps grilled bear. "Maybe I should go hunting today!" I was getting excited about what I could get, there was a forest not that far out of the city. If I started going, I could get there before the afternoon. But as I was making my way there, someone had grabbed me by the forearm.

**"Rock." **"Who wants to know?" I knew this guy's voice, he was a messager for my main source for jobs. "**Garith** wants to see you." "Now? I'm kind of busy at the moment." "He said it was urgent. You know how he gets when you ignore him on this topic." Last time I did it was a low-paying month; kind of killed my options for supplies. And to be frank, I don't want to go through that again.

"Fine, where is he?" "Follow me." I followed the guy off to where ever Garith is...

Adrestian Empire, morning

We ended up at a pub. It was the type of run-down place nobody would look twice at let alone wink at. The inside was as shabby as the outside but was decent enough to meet in. Someone was sitting down at a round table; Garith. He still had the scruffy look to him coupled by his suspicious mug.

"Rock," Garith called. "What do you want?" "Still have the attitude and no real weapon it seems." "You bet, now what do you want?" He made a gesture at the guy behind me. He went over to the bar area to get a cup and a bottle of booze. I took a seat. "Been a while since we talked, how you been." "So-so. You got anything to eat?" "Probably." He shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, while you're back there, make something to eat..."

The servant boy scurried into the kitchen.

"Okay, now onto the main topic... I just got a new job," Garith told me. "Kay, and?" "It's not like any other job... This is big." "Big, how so?" "I don't exactly know how big but it's big. This job requires the entirety of the whole Garith band." "So what, is this a recruitment for a skirmish or something?" "No, not from what I was told."

Geez, why all the secrecy? This contractor should just give us the specifics on the job.

"Say, out of curiosity, where did you score this job," I asked him. "From the same contractor that gave us that raid job back in the holy kingdom." Ah, I remember that job nearly got me thrown in prison. But I have to admit, the pay was definitely worth it.

"Still though, with the number of people in your band, the pay might be cut severely," I had told him. "I know, and do you think I'd be making a big deal out of this if we weren't gonna be paid adequately."

He suddenly plopped something on the table. Judging by the impact, it weighted like bricks in a bag. He opened it up to show me a golden object inside. Bullion and they were bigger than normal ones.

"Damn!" I picked one up to see how heavy it was. "This only half of the advance payment." "Really!" "Yeah, now are you interested?" I put both of my elbows on the table. "I am... But there is something I want to know: why am I the only one here instead of the rest of the band?" "Well..."

As Garith was leading onto what he wanted to say, food and booze were put on the table. My plate had chicken cut into individual pieces. All of them had been seasoning to absolute perfection.

"Not bad waiter, I give you an A-plus," I complimented him with a chicken piece in between my teeth. He took a quick bow and left just as quickly. Just as I was enjoying my meal Garith took a large chug from his mug.

"We need you to be a plant," Garith just said out of the blue. "A plant? Are you drunk already? "No, what I mean is: our employer requested that you be on standby in a specific location: the **Garreg Mach Monastery**." The name rung a bell. That was a neutral area between the **Adrestian Empire **(the continent we're in), the **Holy Kingdom of Faerghus**, and **Leicester Alliance**. I worked in the other two areas at some point but they were just one-offs.

"As you might know not know, regular people can't just enter there whenever. Only the **Knights of Seiros and Officer academy** students. Wait, you do know who the Knights are?" "They're knights that serve the **Church of Seiros**, I know." He clapped as if I was some animal doing a trick. Ugh, this is half the reason I don't like seeing him.

"So what, are you asking me to be a Knight of Seiros," I jokingly questioned him "No, that's not exactly what we had in mind... You're gonna be a student of the officers' academy."

"..."

"..."

"Huh, huh...?" "Yeah, this was the only way we could get you in there." "I'm sorry, I think I didn't make my surprise clear; What the hell!?" "This is the only way to get you in there. It's the best cover." "Why the hell do I have to be a student? Can't you guys just have someone become an employee there?" "We do, but whoever sent the job wanted you to be a student there." "So I have to pose as a student... No, count me out." "Wait, now listen, I've done a lot for you; give you jobs, give you food when you were about to die from hunger, and I never asked for anything in exchange. So please, just do me this one job, one last time and you'll never hear from me again."

His proposal was rather tempting. The lack of annoyance would be great, but seeing him beg like this was rather sad, but if this is a sort of tactic he's using to make me do. In either case, it's working.

"*Sigh* Fine, I'll do it. But I'll do it with no strings attached so you won't have to worry with that scruffy face of yours." "It's not that bad kid." "Whatever you say. But onto serious business, how am I suppose to get admitted? Don't I need to pay for it?" "Tuition, and yes. However, we could also use another method: getting help from a Nobel." "I see, that way, we don't have to spend any money at all. Let's go with the latter." "All right. Now we're gonna have to go over other details but most importantly, we need to register you with a new name. Sorry but Rock is a little on the nose... So I want you to go with **Gildarts**." Ew. "No offense but no." "Well, that's all I got. What name do you want to go with?" No names popped up in my mind. However, there was one...

**"Shirou."** "Shirou... What kind of name is that?" "A foreign one." "...I don't see what you're getting at but it'll do..." He took a chug out of the glass of alcohol and got up from his seat. He walked for the door. "I'm going to get everything set up right now. I want you to stay in the capital for a while until it's time." "Where should I stay?" "Here, this place is pretty comfortable. And don't worry, there aren't any bugs here... Especially." "Okay, I get it! Can you just go already!?" "All right, all right, I'll go. Take care of the bar." "Sure, I'll greet the ghost passing on by."

Garith had left out through the door. Now that I was alone to my thoughts. The prospect of this job. A student at the monastery... What a silly idea, acting like a normal person, mingling with Nobel brats. ...Then again, this does sound rather simple, laying low and living carefree for a bit; sounds pretty relaxed. Besides, what does a student do?

Harpstring moon(may)/20, Fodlan, Garreg Mach Monastery, Officers Academy, morning

The sun was shining down on me. I was doing nothing but sitting down on a bench, looking blankly at the sky. My mind was shifting through whatever was on it. I have been here for nearly a week now and I already wished death would take me now. This whole student thing was pretty damn boring. So far, I've only been listening to lectures about useless stuff such as Fodlan history, and the four saints whatever, and mostly about the principles of magic (useful for mages, not as much for me). And after all that, there's nothing to do; no fighting, no gambling, nothing fun.

"*Sigh I'm so bored! If I knew it would be this bad, I would just not have done that... Then again, scruffy would've held this over my head for the rest of my life. Honestly, that man is a first-rate con artist if I haven't seen one." Maybe I should go read a book or something... But as I was ready to find the library, I saw a herd of students going off somewhere. They seemed pretty excited from the looks on their faces and their voices. I could make out what they were sort of saying. Something about a professor...sparing match. Those words were all I needed to hear. I immediately followed them to wherever they were going.

Officers Academy, training grounds, morning

I entered the area behind a crowd. They were cluttering together. I pushed my way through all of them to get a better view of what was going on. "What the?" Two people were fighting, one had blue hair and a black coat on, and the other was wearing a more elegant version of the academy uniform. She also had white hair. They were fighting with a wooden sword and axe, with that, there was already a disadvantage I could see for the white-haired girl. Using an axe with a blade of that length is pretty terrible mostly because unlike a sword you can't guard with it. Plus, a blade can bypass it easily; this will be more evident when blue hair tried to go for a thrust. But to my surprise, as the fight went on, blue hair's next move ultimately disarmed her and putting the wooden sword at her neck, this was over. The audience began to give applause at the performance.

"Thank you all for the cheers," white-haired spoke. She bowed with a sort of decorum to herself. Despite being beaten, she didn't seem to be upset about it. But if I was her, I wouldn't be so glad.

"I'd like to thank professor **Byleth**. Please give him a round of applause." The clapping continued. The professor seemed pretty confused about what was going on judging by his face. "Um, thank you for the applause." He bowed less grace as the white-haired chick. Hm...he seems familiar but I can't put my finger on it.

"If anyone else would like to try and fight the professor, you're welcomed," the white-haired girl proposed. The students seemed to be daunted by the idea of fighting him and I don't fail to see why. I might only catch the last few moments of the fight but I can tell this guy really knows how to fight... And he'll help me kill my boredom. I walked onto the training grounds soon after deciding to fight.

"I'll take a crack at it," I announced. I was rotating my arm in anticipation. This what I was waiting for, a chance to let out some steam.

"And you are?" "I'm Shirou." "I see... you seem rather familiar," the professor said. "Wouldn't you look at that, I had the same feeling. But even if we did know each other from somewhere, that won't stop me from blowing off all my boredom." "All right then, I guess I'll have to be ready for a fight." He took a stance. It wasn't anything special, rather it was standard, but it was still good enough for offensive and defensive play. "Do you need a wooden sword," he asked me. "No, got my own." I took out the wooden sword off my belt. It felt good to hold this thing out again.

"That's a wooden sword?" "Yep, and don't worry, it'll do the trick in this fight." "I see... whatever works for you is fine." I took my stance in preparation. "Now, are you sure about this," white hair said to me. "Yeah, I'm sure." "In that case, I will begin the count down to the match. I wish you both luck." The crowd grew quiet for the fight that was about to begin. I had to clear all the excitement from my mind and focus; can't fight with noise in my head. "Professor, when she reaches zero, I'm gonna go all out on you, no hard feelings." "No need to hold back on my account." "Good." Our exchange led to the white hair to put out four fingers.

"On the count of four, three, two, one... Go!" With that, we dashed towards each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Fodlan, Adrestian Empire, Garith's bar, morning

"It's been a week since Rock went off to the officer's academy," I had told the man sitting in front of me. "I know." "I have to ask though, why do you want Rock to be in that school? Anyone else of my band could be deployed in Garreg Mach instead of him." "My employer told me to tell you that it is none of your concern." "It pays to be concerned." "The reason will be clear in due time when he allows it. For now, this is what must be done. Besides, if he's as capable, then the concern is unnecessary. Also, my employer expects you to make it to the monastery by the next moon. And when you do, keep tabs on Rock. And as a sign of good faith, here, the other half of the advanced payment. This should be enough to be spread out to members of your group."

He had planted a bag of bullions on the table... The contractor for the job had sent someone over to my bar. Judging by what the messager was asking me, he wanted to know how things were coming along. The conversation was also about the plan for my band to be placed in Garreg Mach on the next moon. But when I think about it, he had been asking me about Rock for the first half of this meeting. The contracter seemed to be interested in Rock for some reason. I tried to get whatever info I could get but to no avail, I got nothing.

Overall: this was looking to be a shady job, and without any information, I might be taking my people into a dangerous situation. Plus, Garreg Mach isn't exactly the best place for us... Then again, looking at this gold, this was large enough for the whole band and moreover. If this was a sign of good faith, then the pay at the end of this has to be worth it.

"Now that you have the advance payment and have given me an update on the job's progress, I shall now take my leave." The contractor's fill-in went for the exit. "When you get to Garreg Mach and have established a base of operations, my employer will come into contact with you again, so take care until then..." The fill-in had exited out of my bar. That had left me all by myself with a larger than life bag full bullion bars.

"*Sigh* This is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into."

Fodlan, Garreg Mach Monastery, Officers academy, training grounds, morning

Our swords clashed. The weight of our first blows was heavy for just a couple of fake swords. The only thing we both did was clash swords. "Remember you two, you only need to land one hit to win," white-haired said. I see, then I don't have to put too much thought into this. I just need to act fast enough to land a hit.

I took my sword away and began to make moves. I was using one hand so my priorities on speed were being met. But he was blocking most of my attacks. These simple attacks weren't going to be enough for him. That's fine, I can do better. Without telegraphing it, I got down and went for a sweep attack. I got one foot and with that, I had thrust my sword upwards at him. But he jumped back before I could land a hit.

"Wow teach, you're fast. Other people would've been done in with that tactic. But trust me when I say that isn't my only trick."

I ran over to him. I had dragged my sword from the floor upwards to the sky. He dodged it and launched a counter-attack but I was able to block it. We began to trade blows against each other after the other had. We both attacked fast and dodged just as fast. This guy, he's able to keep up with me and still look like he barely even got warmed up (I honestly felt a bit insulted by him).

When he made his move to do a side slash, I jumped over him to avoid it but at the same time, I struck from above. The professor blocked the attack despite it coming out of nowhere. When I landed, I immediately slashed at him. He naturally backed away but I wasn't going to let him get away. I slashed away at him but he blocked most of them. I then went for a lower attack, an attack which he still dodged by hopping back. That was it, my chance presented itself. I lunged at him with all the strength in my legs and it was enough for me to get the best amount of distance to him. He had made the first move and did a thrust attack, just what I wanted because I was able to give it a light tap with my sword and change its trajectory. Now was my time, I could make a thrust attack.

At the last second, I had noticed something, the axe that the white-haired girl used was on the floor next to the professor, and the professor noticed as well. He picked it up with a quick flourish.

"Oh my...it's a standstill." The white hair girl had announced in shock. The two of us had locked the other. I had my sword at his neck and he had the axe at my arm.

"If this were a real axe I would've sliced at your arm," the professor told me. "Well, if this were a real fight I would've grabbed your axe with my other arm. But thank the goddess it isn't one."

I took my sword away from the professor and put it back in between my belt, and he had put down the wooden axe.

"I consider this match a draw." The white-haired girl had concluded. The crowd had given us a round of applause. Filled with the sort of need, I gave a short bow so I wouldn't come off as ungrateful. The professor had extended his hand to me.

"It was an excellent fight," the professor complimented me. "Same here." I gave back a compliment and shook his hand. This guy was able to keep up with my attacks without even breaking a sweat. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he would make for a great Mercenary rather than a teacher. Well, I guess that doesn't matter now, I should start taking my leave.

"Oi, it was fun fighting you but I better get going now." "Hold on a minute." Before I could leave, the white-hair stopped me. "We would like to talk to you if you'd allow us to. It'll only take a moment." She asked kindly to get me in a conversation. It's not like I'm busy, so what's the harm in hearing what she has to say.

"Sure, I don't mind." "Excellent, but first, shall we go somewhere else less...crowded," white-hair requested. Looking over at the crowd, they were still looking back at us with the same intensity from when we were fighting. It wouldn't be much of a private conversation if we stayed here...

Officers academy, Black eagles classroom, morning

We had arrived in the classroom that I had familiarized myself with. I come here early in the morning every day. One would think I'm an afternoon type of guy, but really, I'm an early go-getter; it's better to get up early and get stuff done then. I took a seat on one of the front row seats.

"I'm glad you had decided to come," White-hair thanked. "No problem. So what do you want?" "Before we begin, I'd like to say your display of skill was quite remarkable. Even if it was just a mock battle, it was quite amazing." "Thanks." "Now, onto the reason why I wanted to talk to you..." She coughed into her hand. She put one hand at her chest and the other towards me.

"We would like for you to join us on our first mission." First mission? What's she talking about? "**Edelgard**, is this okay?" "It's okay, my professor, just think of him as a mission assistant. And besides, it's not like he's from a different house from the **Black Eagles**." "How do you know I'm in the Black Eagles houses," I asked her. "I've heard some of the students talk about a student who carries around a weirdly shaped wooden sword into the Black Eagles class in the morning." It's not weirdly shaped, it's shaped like how a bokken should be.

"Wow, didn't know that people were talking about me already." "Just ignore them," Edelgard adviadviced me. "I always do." It wouldn't be the first time people looked at me funny since I was carrying this thing.

"But let us get back into the conversation," she redirected the conversation. "Right. So you want me for so mission?" "Yes, we want you for a mission that will be initiated by the end of the month." "And this mission will entail what, helping get donations for the monastery?" "No. It will be helping eliminate bandits."

What she had just said caught me off guard, I thought I heard that wrong. "Did you say 'eliminate' bandits?" "Yes, and I do mean eliminating them." She wasn't messing around, she was dead serious on this. It's not like I haven't seen a dead body before, but to see someone her age talk about commiting the act with no hesitation was surprising.

"I want you to know that if you don't want to do this we'll understand." I could say no and go on with my day... Of course, if I were to stay, I know I'll regret it later on.

"Fine, I'll join. But, I'm gonna be bringing this." I was mentioning the wooden sword on my belt. "You can't possibly mean to bring that to a real battle." "Don't worry, I've been in real fights and this has gotten me out of them." "But still, it's more than reckless to bring one to combat, right, professor?" He was thinking about what she was asking. "...I think it's fine, just as long as he can handle himself on the battlefield with it." "You know I can." Edelgard let out a small sigh. "If the professor is going to allow it, I will not go against his decision." Edelgard seemed disgruntled by this decision, but she doesn't voice her opinion about it. "However, I do want you to bear in mind that you will be fighting people who kill for an occupation." "I know, and trust me, I can handle my own." "I'll believe it when I see it."

Edelgard went for the exit of the class. "I am thankful that you accepted our offer and do hope that this will prove to be a great experience for us all." With that, she walked out the front doors.

"Now that she has left, you'll have to excuse me as well. It was good to see you when you're awake." Awake. what is he talking about...? "..." "Are you okay," the professor asked. I was racking my brain trying to find out what he was talking about, or more accurately, who he was... Wait, I remember this guy now, he's my teacher!

"Oh yeah... I guess I do sleep a lot during your class." "It's fine, just don't let it happen again. And also, just to make sure you know, my name is **Byleth**. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be off."

Byleth had left the classroom, leaving me to my own devices. There was not much to think on here but was worthy of a thought process: being able to go on a mission to take care of bandits. It's not like I haven't dealt with bandits in my time but it's usually alone though. Though on occasion, I do work with other mercs from Garith's band. But working with students, not only regular kids but Nobel born kids, I can't help but be worried about this...

"*Sigh* I guess it doesn't matter, I'll just see what I can do on that day." In the meantime, I better just leave. Maybe I could take a bit of a tour since I didn't have the time to do so before, so I don't see why not now.

And as I said, I set out to look at the whole academy. I got through most of the academy so far; saw the greenhouse that was near the first-floor dormitory.

The cathedral was the probably the centerpiece of this place. The light that comes from the stained glass had given this place a holier than thou feeling to it, and I don't doubt that wasn't the design behind it. I saw some of the students praying in silence while I was just looking on from the entrance of the cathedral. I thought it was best for me to walk away. I continued my tour through the school until it became dawn... This place overall is pretty big but was pretty easy to navigate when you look around and get a feel for it.

But there was one place that interested me when I was exploring. There was an overgrown tower on the left-hand side of the cathedral. I had climbed up to the top of it to see that it was a pretty dusty part of the tower. I was sure I could see a few cobwebs in the corners. But above all, there was a view to the outside that had allowed sunlight to beam into the tower. I stepped carefully towards it so I wouldn't get sunbeams in my eye. When I was finally able to get out towards the view, I saw a view like no other. It wasn't the biggest tower at the monastery but it had the perfect view of the sun setting and clouds being illuminated by the orange sun...

I spent a while up in the tower until I decided to go back to my dorm room. I was able to learn most of the layout to this place and I have to say, if this place weren't an academy, it'd make for a perfect castle. Mostly because there aren't many places to attack from. But who was stupid enough to do such a thing?

Harpstring moon(may)/31, morning

Today was the day of the mission. I wasn't feeling all that nervous about it since something as simple as taking out bandits is what I've been doing for years now. What I was nervous about was working with Noble brats that have no idea what the hell real combat is. But I don't think I could extend this to Byleth. Ever since the day I fought him I've been hearing other students talk about our mock fight, and one just so happen to slip out the fact that Byleth is a mercenary like me. When I heard this, it had explained how he was good at fighting (no like all of them are though). But there's also a problem: he might be able to blow my cover. If he's a mercenary I'm sure he must've heard of Garith's band, and in turn, me. That's troublesome because if I'm reported to be a mercenary, I'm sure I'll be put in a dark dungeon for a long time. So for now, I just need to be careful and make it not-so-obvious I'm a merc...

"There they are." I had found the group I was supposed to meet up with. They seemed a bit different from your normal pack of Noble kids. Can't get a proper read on them from where I'm standing (and that's about fifty to sixty yards away). I was going to watch them for a bit, but that was short-lived when one of the students spotted me. His eyes were piercing right into mine along with that creepy smirk... No use hiding now, I better just get this over with.

"There you are, come here." Edelgard had called me over "Sorry I'm late, I was running over here but then I need to use the bathroom, but shortly after that, a pack of black cats crossed my path so I needed to find a different route. But then shortly after that, I just got lost." "Wow, that's a complete mouthful," a blue-haired kid said. "Of course it is, it sounds too unreal to even be an excuse," a girl with a black hat on stated. "I assure you, it's honest to the goddess truth." Only the first part, in reality: I overslept and when I did wake up I did go to use the bathroom. I had nearly forgotten that I was supposed to do this today; remembered when nobody was in the classroom.

"Everyone, this is the student from our house that will be joining us for today's mission. His name is Shirou." "So this is the student that went head to head with a professor?" "I am." "I see... You are less than what I expected." "Come now **Hubert**, that is quite disrespectful." An orange-haired kid reprimanded him. "I thought the student who fought the professor would look a bit more... fierce-looking," the girl wearing the black hat said with a hint of disappointment. "What's up with how I look?" "No offense, but you have bed hair like **Bernadetta**," blue hair told me. "My hair is always like this, and who is Bernadetta?"

The group had moved to show a purple-haired girl who was cowering behind them as if she was going to get attacked. "Huh, what!? Why am I being put into the spotlight like this?" She was rambling on as she was trying to find somewhere to hide.

"Do I look that terrible?" "Ah don't mind her, she's just not good with strangers (don't get why though). But enough about that, can we fight after the mission?" The blue-haired kid came at me, invading my personal space. "No thanks." "Why not?" "Sounds like more busywork than I'd like to handle." "What does that mean?" "Nothing." I have a feeling that if I tried to explain what I mean we could be here for a while.

"The man who fought the professor, it is the pleasure of meeting you, I am Petra." Her dialect was broken but not hard to understand. But those marks on her face and the tone of her skin pointed to her being **Brigid**.

"Since we're doing introductions we might as well get it out of the way," Edelgard said. "The man standing next to me is named Hubert. And the young lady over here is **Dorothea**." "Young lady. Edie, you flatter me." "And over here is **Caspar**." "Nice to meet you...um, Shi..ra?" "Shirou, She-ro," I corrected him. "Right, I got it now." Can't say I'm surprised rhat he couldn't say the name properly, but still doesn't stop it from sounding stupid.

"And here we have..." "I am **Ferdinand Von Aegir! **It is a pleasure to be at your acquaintance," the guy named Ferdinand interrupted Edelgard. "You couldn't just wait for her to at least hand it off to you," Dorothea said. "No need, any Noble worth his salt knows that first impressions are crucial." Yeah, but introducing yourself as if your a kid trying to raise your hand higher than the other kids so you can get picked on by the teacher.

"Now finally, we have **Linhardt**... Who is fast asleep." He was also hidden behind the crowd, sleeping as if he was on a bed and not in the middle of a room. "How can he sleep standing up," Bernadetta asked as she behind Petra. Dorothea had pinched his arm and within a second, he sprung awake.

"What, huh, what's going on...? Oh, we're meeting the additional member to this mission now? Well, that's wonderful, but I think I'm going to... *Yawn* Head back to sleep." And like that he was going to go back to sleep until Dorothea pinched him again.

"So as you can see, this is the best that the Black Eagle house has to offer. We hope that you will be able to aid us in today's mission." "I'll do what I came here to do."

I don't know how to feel about that statment but Edelgard seemed proud of that fact, so I'll hold my tongue.

Edelgard clapped her hands loudly. "I'm sorry for the sudden interruption but we must get going now. I'm sure the knights are getting tired of waiting for us." "Oh yeah, let's get going to the canyon already," Caspar expressed with excitement in his voice. "Yes, we should get going, Lady Edelgard," Hubert suggested to her. "Indeed, let us go." Edelgard took the lead towards the exit to the entrance hall. Byleth and I were far behind them.

"They're an odd bunch," I told Byleth. "Yes, they are, but I don't mind it all that much. It's a fresh change of pace." "Is that so... Well, it doesn't matter to me all that much. Right now, we have a job to do. I just hope they know what job they're doing." "I hope as well but I'm not sure they do." I can see what he means, those kids didn't seem like they had much experience in bat, and in that sense, that's pretty dangerous.

"But as their teacher, I'll have to be the one to guide them through the battlefield." So that's his interpretation of what his duty was here. I didn't think he was able to have a sense of duty, mainly by the fact of how distant he seemed from this (plus, Mercenaries aren't prone to having such obligations).

"Must suck to lead a couple of brats on the field like that, huh? Well don't worry, you won't have to worry about me, so that'll lighten the burden for you."

I began to follow the crowd in front of us. When I caught up, they were waiting at the gate in and out of the Monastery. As I was walking down the stairs, looking around at all the shops that were set up here, I kept thinking back on what I had said to the professor, "Lighten the burden". I wonder what I meant by that? Eh, I don't really see much of a point dwelling on it now...

* * *

***Pew* *pew* Another one has bitten the dust. Oh, hello there, Sage here. I'd like to go over a few things about myself for anyone new to my work. First of all, I try to keep most chapters to a minimum of 3,000 words per chapter, but with my other story, some chapters are over that number mainly cause I try to find a good place to end the chap but I keep going for eons. Two: I have been writing stories for almost three years now (I think). Three... Umm... I'm an alien from space. But seriously, I'd like to say that the process for this chapter was much better than what I anticipated, so I'd call this a success. So really, that's all I got to say for now, so until the next chapter; see ya.**

**Side note: I didn't want the title to be "IF" but it was the best I could do without the title being too on the nose with a theme, so I just kept it simple and went with IF (I know FE Fates is also called IF, but nobody calls it that, so we're fine).**


	3. Chapter 3

Harpstring moon(May)/30, Red canyon, morning

We had arrived at the Red Canyon. The place was nothing but a mountain of ruins. There were ruins all over the place. It looked as if some big battle had happened here a very long time ago. But we aren't here to study this place, we're here to fight bandits.

"The bandits are at the north end of the area," Byleth stated. "I can see the leader of the group. Edelgard, it's the bandit that tried to kill you before," he told her. "Really? What a twist of fate," she responded. "A bandit tried to kill Edelgard," I mumbled to myself. "Yes, some scoundrel was out to assassinate Lady Edelgard, as well as two others," Hubert explained. "Who were the other two?" "They were **Dimitri Alexandre** Blaiddyd and **Claude von Riegan**." I only know one of them. Dimitri is the prince of the Holy Kingdom. I've only seen him once but from a glance, I could tell he's the straight-laced type. Claude, however, is a name I'm not familiar with at all.

"There also seems to be a way to get to the leader of this group from the west side of the platform," Byleth added onto the list of possible ways to tackling this. I got up to where he was standing. west side wasn't as guarded all that tightly. On the other hand, the Northway passage had a few of them at that juncture. Either way is fine, but taking the west could be a pretty fast way for me to take out the leader.

"Shirou, what do you think," Byleth asked me. "I'm thinking of going forward." "It's not a bad idea but I think we should go left instead. That way we'll be able to get to the leader much faster that way." "You want to do that, that's fine but If we leave most of those guys awake, they'll box us in when we start to move out." "Then what do you want to do, Shirou?" "Easy, I wanna immediately take out the leader." "I don't know if that's a good, I-"

I saw bandits coming at us from the bridge with their weapons in their hands. They knew we were here. I had run over to them with my sword out. One of them had a short sword and the other had a bow in their hand. I needed to be careful about how I approach them. "One of them is charging us!" The one with the bow aimed his arrow and fired. I was able to swiftly dodge it. I used the gap between the three of us. I had jumped over them and struck both of then in the neck, knocking both of them out in an instant.

"They probably know we're here. Everyone, get ready for battle." As Byleth commanded the others I ran off ahead of the rest. There were several bandits in the center at once. A few of them came at me with swords and axes in hand. I knocked them out faster than they came at me. More of them took a swing at me, but I dodge and attacked them. More came at me at once and began to surround me, but I could still manage them.

"Hya!" A yell came from behind me. It was that Ferdinand kid. He had killed one of the bandits behind me. "Are you all right, Shirou," he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." "Good, then allow us to show them the power of nobility." "I'm not a Nobel, but sure, why not."

We charged at them and began to take them out one by one. Then magic had come, flying towards us. Lightning and dark magic hit the bandits (and nearly me too)."Crap that was close." "Yes, that was a tad bit too close," Ferdinand said in a nervous manner. I was looking around for the mages that had fired those spells. "Sorry!" I saw Dorothea and Hubert by the stairs of the entranceway.

"You could've given us a warning," I yelled at them. "We needed the element of surprise," Hubert explained. "That's such crap! Hm?" More bandits were coming. One of them swung an axe down on me. I was able to block it and fling it away. I then rolled my body towards him and kicked him in the gut. I had struck him.

"Everyone moves in and prepares to intercept the enemy!" When Byleth commanded that I looked in front of myself. There were droves of them coming. Caspar, Petra, Edelgard, Ferdinand, and Byleth charged in. Everyone else had stuck back to prove support from behind. Bernadetta, on the other hand, was slowly creeping away from the fight and to the west side bridge. I then noticed that there were three enemies heading towards her. She coiled up from seeing three guys run over to attack her. The three were using bows and as such, each of them shot an arrow at her. She'll get kill like this...

"Get behind me!" I reacted to their attack as quickly as possible. I had struck all the arrows out if the air.

"What," The bandits expressed shock as they saw their arrows being knocked out of the air. "Come on guys, she's barely even able to hold onto her weapon. How about we go a round!" I had said that as I made a thrust at the bandit that was close to me. I had pushed him backward with the tip of my wooden sword. When I was done with him, I had hit him with the tip again to push him back. I then turned my body fast enough to drag my sword through the air to hit both of the other archers fast enough so they wouldn't have time to react. I then double-tapped the three of them on the head to make sure they didn't get up. I then turned over to Bernadetta.

"Are you okay," I asked her. "Y-yes, just fine now." The battle was raging on and the ones doing most of the fighting were nearly being overwhelmed. But the west side bridge was clear of enemies, so I could go take out the leader. After I'm done knocking him out, I'll use him as a means to stop the other bandits.

"Bernadetta, go and help them." "Huh, but..." I ran off towards the west entryway before she could get another word out.

There were some enemies in my way but I was able to blow them away in one swing. A mage came in my way and began to open up a magical tome. I needed to stop him before he was able to cast, so I threw my sword at the mage couldn't react to the incoming attack. The sword had hit him right in the forehead. The tactic I'm using was made to break a mages's concentration; they need it to be able to focus on casting their spells, and this way, they'll be too confused to do a spell. But this will only work for a short time, so I needed to knock them out before they're able to cast again. So when I closed the gap I put my hand against his face and slammed him to the floor. When I picked up my sword I hit the mage on the head with the butt of the sword (double-tapping is important). I saw the leader of this bandit group standing on a destroyed small fort.

"Hey, have you seen a bandit leader around here? Having a hard time seeing one anywhere around here," I insulted him to catch his attention. "You damn academy brats, I'll kill you all." "Scary, don't you know making that face could haunt my dreams?" I charged in as he took out duo axes from his pouch and had thrown both of them at me. I had dodged one of them but caught the other one. I had thrown my sword to the sky and the axe at the bandit.

"Too easy!" He had evaded the attack with an agile step. "You're gonna have to do better than... Where did you go!?" I grabbed my sword in mid-air. I was descending faster than I had thought I would have, but it didn't matter, I could still get the timing right. "What the, huh!?" He had noticed that I was in the air but it was a little too late, my sword had made contact with his shoulder.

"GAAAHH!" I was sure I had destroyed his shoulder with that attack. And immediately when I landed, I had struck him in the cheek. He went rolling to my right and flat on the floor...

"Oi, how does that feel? Well don't worry, give it a month or two, you'll feel better. Now, stay still, I'm going to do the double-tap." I was going to hit him with the butt of the sword but then I heard something behind me. It was the mage I knocked out, his tome was open and forming a spell. I kicked the bandit leader out of the way got out of the way of the incoming fireball. I recovered from my evasive action and went straight for the mage before he was able to fire off another one. I slammed the sword against his stomach and then kicking him on the head down to the ground.

"And stay down this time." "RAHHHH!" I heard someone screaming behind me, it was the leader again with an axe in his hand. When I turned around to react someone else had already beaten me to the punch. He had an arrow in his head. From where it was sticking from, the archer was on the platform on my right. Bernadetta was standing there with a bow in her hand. I could see from here that she was trembling like a scared child... This is her first time killing someone. It's a pretty obvious read, even from where I'm standing.

"Okay, enough of that, focus!" I ran back up on the platform and I saw that most of the bandits were killed. Some of the students were gasping for air, heavily. Some of them seemed just as shocked or somewhat...

"All of them, this is the first that they all took a life." "P-please, spare me!" One of the bandits was trying to get away with a bad leg. Edelgard was preparing to strike him down in front of everyone. "Please, just spare me, please!" She said nothing to his plea and just arched her arm behind her head and began to bring down her weapon down to the bandit.

*Clang* "Come on dude, bandits are supposed to be tough right? Stop crying, you're embarrassing yourself." "Shirou, what are you doing," Edelgard, who was shocked by my actions, asked me why I blocked her attack. "He said he had enough," I responded. "We have to eliminate him, he's apart of the bandits," she told me. "I know but this guy is surrendering, he's done. If you kill him now, you'll be as dirty as those guys who're dead on the floor. Besides, it's not like he's a threat anymore." I turned my head and gestured him to leave...

"Looks like all the enemies are either dead or have fled," Bylerh listed off. "I'd say this wraps up this mission." "But Professor..." "Let it go Edelgard, they go away, nothing we can do about it." Byleth was able to calm her down a bit and ultimately returned her to her normal posture.

"*Sigh* Everyone, this mission is officially over. Let's report in with the knights and go back to the Monastery." As Edelgard ordered, everyone else began to walk off with her. Bernadetta was eyeing me as she was walking slowly behind the others. Hubert, however, was waiting by the bridge. I walked up to the bridge only to stop when I was standing right beside him.

"You have something to tell me," I asked him. "I don't know where you get the right to insult lady Edelgard like that, but I wouldn't make a habit of it." "I wasn't insulting her, I just told her what I thought of her actions." "What you think doesn't matter, do not try to belittle her again, or else you'll find yourself regretting such an action." Hubert walked off away from me.

"Oi, oi, so you're a bodyguard or something," I guessed. "And what if I am?" "No reason, it's just... You're too creepy to be a normal student." "Is that so? Well, I guess you can say whatever you like, my demands still stand. It would be best not to tempt me..." He continued walking towards the others. I felt as though he was still looking at me with that sneer in his eye. I would say this left me all by myself but the professor was still here. It seemed as if he was talking to himself, and as much as I wanted to let him keep to his conversation, it was time to go.

"Byleth," I called. "Shirou, why haven't you gone off with the others?" "Wondering the same for you." "I was just taking in the view..." I looked off into the distance beyond where we were standing. Below the mountain was splits in the land and some structures that were worse for wear...

"What do you think could've done this," Byleth asked. "Who knows, maybe magic gone amuck?" "Perhaps, but I feel as if that isn't the right answer." "So what is the right answer then?" "You got me there, I have no idea." "Then there's no point to dwelling on it. We should get going." "Yes, we should."

The walk back to the knights was pretty quiet, we didn't utter a single word to each other. I mean, I don't mind silence, but this is freaking killing me!

"So...how do you think I did," I asked him. "You ran off on your own to fight the leader. While impressive, it was a dangerous thing to do." "Well, I saw an opening and I took it. If we all had fought the bandits guarding the northbridge back there he would've used that time to escape. Besides, it all worked out in the end, didn't it." "It did, but at least let me know next time." "Sure..." This guy - despite appearances - is starting to sound like Garith. Now that I brought him up, I wonder how scruffy is doing?

"Why did you stop Edelgard from killing that man," Byleth questioned. "It's nothing grand, I just thought if I let her kill a guy like it was an execution it would've left a bad taste in my mouth." "I see... Despite appearances, you have a Nobel being," Byleth complimented. "You think? I was just doing what I wanted to do." We kept on walking down the path to the knights. I wonder if that bandit was going to even be able to break the knight's perimeter guard. I don't think I did the wrong thing, but who would see that as such...?

Garreg Mach Monastery, Officer's academy, evening

I was told to come to the Black eagle classroom. It had been a good hour since I was here, I was soundly asleep too. That was until I was suddenly awoken by someone.

"Huh?" "Sorry to wake you." Edelgard was the one to greet me, and Byleth was standing behind her. "No problem. *Yawn* So, what do you want at this hour," I asked her. "The professor had just got done talking to lady **Rhea**. She was pleased with our performance... However, she did get a report on a bandit getting away." "So what, I don't regret letting him live," I told her with a firm voice. "I'm not scolding you, I'm justing telling you what happened in the meeting between him and Rhea." "I also didn't mention that you were the one that the bandit live," Byleth had continued on for Edelgard. "So overall: I'd say everyone did an all right job, including you Shirou." "Thanks teach." "...And this would lead to what we want to say next..."

Byleth went over to the podium. "Shirou, will you join the elite class," he offered. "What's that?" "It means you'll be assisting us on missions and battles outside of the Monastery from now on. But if you don't wish to, we won't force you to," Edelgard goes on with the offer. The proposal was a pretty tempting one and really, I have no reason to reject it at all. So what the hell, might as well.

"Sure, I'm game." "Good! It is such an honor to have you. And now that you are, there are a few things we need to go over, but that can wait for the morning. For now, the professor and I need to speak, so I must ask you to leave." "All right then, I'll be on my way then." I walked on out of the class. While I was walking on along, looking at the night sky. I was thinking about all that had happened today and the elite class; what is an elite class anyway? But when I got back to my room that had a pillow with my name on it those thoughts didn't matter anymore. "*Sigh* I'm bushed..." My body began to relax and all thought began to disappear. But before that, I felt my stomach growl like a tiger. I guess with all fighting and moving around I didn't get enough time to eat anything. I can't sleep like this...

"Hmm... Might as well." I got from my bed and went out of my room to the dining hall. I tried to spot if anyone was inside. So far no one was in sight. I moved through the area with haste. When I reached the counter I hopped over it and began to check everywhere. I then found a cabinet. When I opened it, there were sweet in a glass cover.

"Ah damn it, sweets aren't going fill me up." I heard foot's steps coming this way. I closed the cabinet and I hid behind the counter. I saw their legs stretching from the corner of the counter. I was up against it so they weren't going to see me. They moved over to the cabinet that I was at. I took this time to try and get out of here, but by a complete whim, I tripped and hit the counter just to keep myself stable. "*Gasp*" I had scared the mystery person who jumped back only to hit her head on the counter.

"Ow...that really hurts," the girl told herself. I could kind of see that she was wearing the academy uniform. Put my sword (which I was close to drawing) back on in between my belt and waist. "Are you okay," I asked her. "S-stay back, you phantom!" "Calm down, I'm a student and a human being, not a ghost." I got up to help her. "Here, are you okay?" "Yes, just a bump on the head." She gave me her hand. It was slender and cold. The light from outside was helping see who it was I was helping...

"...!" "Is something the matter?" This person...she has white hair...


	4. Chapter 4

Harpstring moon(May)/30, evening

It was dark out and no light illuminated (except the moonlight coming from the window) illuminated the cafeteria. There was someone in front of me, someone with long long hair, and it was white.

"S-stay away, you ghost!" She was beginning to form a magic circle, she was going to fire off a spell in here. "Wait, wait, I'm a human, not a ghost!" Just when I thought she was going to start a fire in here she had called off her attack. A cold sweat ran down my spine.

"I see, then why are you sneaking around in the dark," she questioned me with a shift in tone from fright to possibly angry. I don't see how I can lie my way out of this one, and to be honest, I don't need to. "I was hungry so I decided to get something to eat." "Isn't it a bit late to get something to eat?" "I could say the same to you." "Excuse me?" "You're not going to tell me that you were going for the sweets in that cabinet?" "Huh, that's-"

I heard foots steps, metal clicking to the floor, a knight. I got down immediately. "What's the matter," the white-haired girl asked me. "There is a guard outside." "So, it's not like we're intruders. Unless..." "I'm a student too but I don't plan on getting in trouble for trying to get some food." I peered over the counter, so far nobody was in the hall. I could just vault over the counter right now and sneak back to my room...

"You better leave now or else the guards will find you in here." I gave her a warning and made my escape. Before exiting I took a spoon with me just in case.

"You were going to leave me behind?" White-hair was right behind me with a vexed expression on her face. "Yes, and because if you were able to sneak your way here you can sneak your way out of here." "I was lucky enough to get here without being spotted; stealth isn't my specialty." Reading in between the lines she was telling me to get her out of here. And as much as I didn't want to I knew I was going to do it anyway.

"Fine, where's your dorm room," I asked her. "Near the greenhouse." The guard was near the greenhouse and coincidentally enough, I need to go through there if I want to get back to my room. Luckily, I have a spoon and a good aim. I took out the spoon and I aimed for the fishing dock. I threw it over there and it landed like a coin onto the street. The made his way to where the spoon landed. I ran for it the moment he was distracted. I forgot to tell the girl to run for it but to be honest, it's not my fault if she gets caught. When I made it to my room, I didn't bother to turn on a lantern but rather just closed the door shut. Now that I was in my room I can relax as much as I like. But now that noticed it, I was back where I started, no food and a rumbling stomach. Tch, what's wrong with me, an hours-long empty stomach is nothing. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep off my hunger...

6/6, Garland moon(June), Sunday, morning

Today was just another plain old day. It's been seven days since the mission and ever since nothing else had happened. I had found myself not as bored with myself in the Monastery since I've been keeping myself busy with fishing, but it's pretty boring so I don't do it often. There was a greenhouse but I don't know the first thing about gardening so I didn't even bother. With me already exhausting all my options I decided to head to the library to find at least something entertaining to read. As I was making my way to the library and about to turn the corner to it I had bumped into something. Books were suddenly all over the floor. Someone was on the floor as well.

"Ow, that hurt." That voice... Oh god. "Who, you." Ugh, I wish I wasn't me now. "You were the food stealer from the night before!" "Don't point your finger at me, I saw you going for those sweets! You're no better than me." "What do you speak of?" "You were probably going to devour those sweets without a second if I didn't interrupt you!" "A-absurd, I wouldn't devour them...! I would've savored them." She shook her head and got up from the floor.

"Listen, don't you dare tell anyone I eat sweets," she demanded. "Why would I care to tell anyone?" "Swear it!" "Why should I, and who cares if you do?" "Just swear on it, and I won't tell that you were in the cafeteria at night." I was beginning to feel somewhat annoyed by this. I mean, why am I getting this treatment, I helped her. "Gah, this is ridiculous, I'm out of here." I walked away from the scene.

...

Soon after that little run-in, I was sleeping on the bench outside of the classes. I was enjoying some shut-eye until I heard someone coming closer. "Found you." I opened my eyes to find it's the same white hair girl. "What are you stalking me now?" "Like I'd waste time doing such a pointless activity. I was heading to my room and I had happened to see you here." She was clearly lying but I felt as if bringing that up would be a bigger pain than it's worth.

"I have a question for you," white-hair asked me. "Shoot." "Are you the student that went toe to toe with the professor of the Black Eagles? He was said to have a wooden sword on his belt, and to no one's surprise, you have one." "Yeah, what of it? Want an autograph?" "Such a thing is not needed, I was just curious is all. You don't seem particularly strong." She was pushing the boundary but it was fine, I wasn't easily angered.

"Watch what you say, kid." She tensed up after I said that. Her eye was twitching a bit. "Did you just call me a child?" "So what, you are kid, aren't you?" "No, I am not, you moronic imbecile!" She had a very audible pissed off tone in her voice. The words alone weren't enough to get me mad, but the sort of condescending attitude she had behind them as if I was a lesser person than her. I think I'm gonna use her little weak point.

"Oh, sorry there kiddo, I guess I shouldn't be making fun of you, should I? But if you want to remedy that it's quite simple: drink a lot of milk and go to sleep before ten. Okay, you got that, can you hear me from down there?"

Her face was growing redder as I kept going on with my insults until she reached her boiling point. "I hope you had wished to fly as a child." "Huh?"

She put her hand on my chest and started throwing out words, and not got ordinary ones; they were spell incantations. She was saying them faster than I could react, and before I could pull my sword out it was too late. A powerful gust of wind knocked me backward and rolling onto my back.

"What the hell was that for!?" "I will not be taken for a child by a man like you! Take out your sword so this wouldn't be called an unfair fight." She was ready for a fight and probably didn't care if I took my sword out or not. She seemed rather fragile given her physique, but that wouldn't stop me from using my sword on her if need be.

"Fine, but if you think I'm gonna let you hit me with another spell you're dead wrong!" "Perfectly fine by me, target practice is better when they're moving." She began to speak more words but I was already closing the gap between us. "Fire!" "Rahh!"

...

"What is the matter with you two!?" White-hair and I were being yelled at by a member of the faculty named **Seteth**. The oddly light green hair was something that drew me in. I saw another person with the same green feature somewhere around the fishing area. "Inciting a fight near an area around students and the classes. When we heard spells were going off near the classes we thought it was an attack. But no, it was two students who were fighting with reckless abandon." "And for that, I am sorry, mr. Seteth." The girl apologized with a soft-toned voice. "...In all regards, if we're talking about who's fault this is, it's hers'." "You little..." I was going to retort but I felt as if doing so would've been met with a heavy pain in my ass.

"Perhaps she was the one to fire off spells without any care but it was you who engaged her, so you also are held responsible." I clicked my tongue...

"As punishment for your actions, you two are to clean the library, entirely." "What, but Mr. Seteth that is unfair," White-hair argued. "Yeah, that'll take all day to clean!" "Then perhaps in the future, you'll think before you act. Now, be on your way..." We walked out of the offices and back into the hallway. She was looking at me with what I could describe as intense hot-fire rage. I wasn't exactly happy myself, so I returned a glare of my own. We refused to say a word to each other...

Officer's academy, library, afternoon

We were cleaning the library as told to do. I was taking care of the books while white hair cleaned the bookshelves. She said carrying the books from the reception desk to a shelf was a challenge...

"Come on...reach...!" She was having trouble reaching a spot. She struggling against an uphill battle on this one; her fingertips could barely even reach it. After a minute or two of struggling, it seemed about time she gave up... Nope, she was still trying to reach the top shelf and it didn't seem like she was giving up any time soon. Might as well help her.

"Hand me that." I took the brush out of her hands and started cleaning the shelf. "I didn't ask for your help. I am perfectly capable of doing it on my own." "Well it looked like you needed some help getting to this top part so I'm just helping you, and no, I'm not looking down on you."

As I cleaned the shelf there was a pause of silence for a brief moment. We didn't make small talk. When I was done I gave the brush back to her.

"Here, now continue." "Um...thank you," she said with embarrassment. "Geez, you make saying thank you sound like fighting a herd of bandits or something." "And it was seeming like to be a fine moment," she told me with irritation in her voice. "Sorry, sorry. But seriously, why are you acting stubborn with needing help, and about...the other thing?" "well... It's because I don't want to be treated like a child," she proudly yelled out. "I hate it when people treat me as if I'm a child in need of help." So that's why she has a complex about her height. I can't say I understand how she feels but I at least know what she means.

"I think that's quite enough of that, let's get back to work." She began to wipe down the shelves she could reach and I went back to stacking books in their proper place. I was thinking about how white hair was particular about her height. I really did hit on a hard spot there, even for me I sounded like an ass...

"Hey, white hair." "Yes?" "I'm sorry for making fun of your height. It was extremely rude of me." When I saw her face it was one of shock. "What, did I say something wrong," I asked her. "No, I just thought you were an unapologetic jerk." "Thanks for the compliment." "Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, I was just surprised. And since you did, I'll return the favor; I am sorry for insulting you as well and hitting you with magic... But I can't say you didn't have it coming." "No worries, I did deserve it." I was at least self-aware to notice that I was being a bit of a jerk.

"By the way, my name isn't white hair, it's **Lysithea**. And your name?" "Shirou. Need me to tell you how to pronounce it?" "No, I can pronounce it just fine, Shirou," She fluently pronounced."By the way, those are stacked in the wrong order," Lysithea told me. "Hm?" "They suppose to be stacked over here..."

We spent the rest of the day stacking the books in the right order and dusting off the shelves and tables until we were done. When we left the library and saw that orange light was seeping through the window in front of us. It was already sundown.

"We spent the whole morning and afternoon in there," Lysithea said. "Well, at least I was kept busy," I told myself. "I'm a bit famished after doing all that work. I'm going to go get something to eat... Would you like to come along? It'll be my way of saying sorry for hitting you with magic." Her offer was rather enticing due to the fact I only ate bread today.

"Sure, but where we gonna get some food? Pretty sure the cafe is closed" "Then we can go into town and get something. If we hurry now we can just make it." "Fine, just lead the way."

We ran through the Monastery and into town. Occasionally, she would need to take a break to catch her breath. After a while, we made it to the place Lysithea wanted to be at, but it seemed to be closed.

"No, cake..." She looked as if her world just crumbled to bits in one instance. "Shame, guess we'll have to look for something else. Not like it's a big loss anyway, we can have sweets another time." "Now hang on a moment, cake is not just any food, nor is it at all." I'm pretty sure it is. "...It's a heavenly essence that magic itself cannot rival. It is the essence of the divine entity that presides over Fodlan. And it is the best substance to have ever been conceived! To have to wait and to consume it is torture unlike any other!" Okay, this was reaching cult passion that I wish to never see in my lifetime.

"How about we just get something else, yeah," I suggested to her. She bobbed her head yes. "Just as long as it's not fish, or vegetables I'll eat it." "Picky eater, are you sure not a..." I could see the ice-cold glare coming from her eyes. If I had finished my sentence I was sure that I would be paying the price for it. "A-anyway, let's go find something to eat, shall we?" "Yes, let us."

We walked around the area, trying to find something to eat. Everywhere was closed no matter where we looked, even the bread sellers were closed for the day. When it was looking grim, we saw someone outside of a building. He was yelling about food, dirt cheap, and didn't reek of alcohol. To me, that was a signal for the perfect place to eat at.

"Welcome, come on in, this is a newly established tavern. Children and adults are all welcomed (providing that they can pay)." I thought Lysithea was going to blow a gasket but she was rather calm about the child comment. "Wanna eat here," I asked her. "I don't know, it seems rather suspicious." "Don't worry ma'am, this place is cleaned from top to bottom. The outside needs some work though."

Lysithea seemed content with going in. "Okay, I'll go in to see if this place is fine to eat in." I took a look inside of the tavern. It was a nicely-lit place with no broken tables or drunks sleeping anywhere. If you ask me, this is the perfect place. I gave her the thumbs up. She went right in after me. We took a seat in the center of the place...

"It's rather...quiet in here." Lysithea had said an obvious fact but a valid fact nonetheless. I was reaching for my sword just in case things were about to get hairy.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I'll be with you in a moment but while I'm in the kitchen, I'll take your orders."

That voice...there was something about it that rang something fierce in my head. "Do you have anything sweet," Lysithea asked. "Yes, we do have some sweets." "Then I'll have all the ones you got!" She was extremely deadset on the sweets. I better order what I want then.

"I'll have a steak medium rare with lemon tea." "Coming right up." That voice was setting something fierce off in my head. It sounded too familiar.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask, why do you carry a wooden sword with you? You do know students are allowed to carry a real sword." "I know but this is better for me than a real sword. That way, I don't need to worry all that much when I fight." "But bringing a weapon like that in battle is nothing but lunacy." "Maybe so, but it hasn't let me down yet, why would it start now?" She seemed rather puzzled by my statement.

"Such a weird concept for using a wooden sword on the battlefield." "Does it drive you mad?" "I don't see why it would, but I do think it's idiotic." "Yikes, never heard anyone tell me that straight to my face before... You don't beat around the bush, do you?" "Not at all."

I heard people make fun of me behind my back about me taking a wooden sword into a fight and some of my clients had spoken about my credibility because of it. But really, it never bothered me at all and it still doesn't, because in the end, results speak for themselves.

"Sorry for making you wait, folks, the food is now ready." As the voice was coming from out of the kitchen. I looked to see who the chef was.

"...!" "Here's your food ma'am and...sir..." There was a long pause after he placed the food down. The scruffy beard, it was Garith!

"Um, is something the matter?" Lysithea asked as she was eating her sweets. "Nothing is wrong, I'm just surprised a young lady such as yourself would dine a rough-looking kid." Right off the bat, he was pissing me off. "He is okay, despite his appearance." Thanks for drawing away from the rough thing.

"I see, you might be right, he might seem like a rough kid but he's... Probably a lot softer, like a little kid." That stupid smirk on his face was the tipping point. "Oi, old man you should be careful. Men, your age carrying that much stuff can make you break your back and all the other bones in your body, tip over and fall to the ground," I casually tell him. He wasn't surprised by my call back at all, I'd be hardpressed to say he didn't expect it at all.

"Very funny sir, enjoy your dinner." I can hear the snickering in my head, god it's freaking unnerving how easily he can make me mad.

"Are you okay? That was rather heated, and sort of rude of the both of you." "Ah don't worry, we're- I mean, we're men, and men just talk like that to each other whenever we see each other." Her face showed that she was clueless on what I meant (or at least on why we would do what I said). I almost dropped the ball there for a moment, I can't let anyone know we're affiliated to each other; it could lead to a snowball effect to where someone figures out I'm a merc.

"Okay...weird." "Yeah, I know. Anyway, aren't we going to eat?" "Oh, yes." "And just as far as I know, you are going to be paying?" "I did say it was on me, so yes." "Good, then let's eat." We dug into our food. Lysithea was savoring the sweets she had on her plate. It looked as though she was a little girl enjoying her food... It feels a bit familiar.

"Why are you staring at me," she asked as she still stuffing her mouth with sweets. "Ah, nothing, just reminded me of something. But that doesn't matter, I should start eating."

I took a big bite out of my steak. The tavern was silent due to us being the only two in here. However, I think that was for the best, I'd die if anyone from Garith's band was here. After we were done with our food, Lysithea paid for our meal and made our way out. Before I went out of the door behind Lysithea, I looked back to see Garith looking at me.

"Thanks for the meal, old man. I think I'll drop by tomorrow if I can," I told him without making it obvious of what I really meant. "Okay, I'll be anticipating your visit soon." I went out and shut the door behind me...

Seeing Garith here is a real surprise. I didn't think he would come to Garreg Mach since he's told me about his failed raid escapade here and how it left being a wanted man. But since he is here that means something happened to the job, and if that's the case, I definitely need to speak with him as soon as possible... For now, I just need to get back to my dorm room and rest.

Officer's academy, evening

Reaching the dorms I let out a loud yawn... "I'm beat," I said to myself. "Tired already?" "Of course, I wasn't planning on cleaning an entire library all-day. I'm just surprised you aren't." "Despite my frame, I am fully capable of being able to stay up through the whole night," Lysithea boasted. She began to walk off towards elsewhere but she turned around.

"Shirou, what class do you belong to?" "Black Eagles." "Shame, I would've liked to see what you could do in a real fight. Oh well, I wish you a good night." She walked off to what I would presume is the library...

"Man, I'm tired." When I walked into my room I kicked off my boots. I saw my bed and a sense of relief was washing over my brain. I plopped onto the bed and I was immediately relaxed. Today was rather interesting, to say the least, though, I would say my little dispute with Lysithea was rather... Well, that doesn't matter now anyway. But there was the little matter of her hair, it was white just like Edelgard's, and just like- No, it doesn't matter. Besides, I'm too tired to think about it, my brain needs rest. With that, I closed my eyes and went to sleep in no time at all...

Officer's academy, library, evening

A candle had lit the dark library I was sitting in. I was reading a book on magical theory on how to use magic with **crests**. Most of everything that was in here was similar to many other research books. So far, I was having a hard time focusing on the context of the book. I closed the book when my focus was beginning to wane...

"Ugh, I just can't." It wasn't because I was tired that my focus was going away, there was something on my mind that was bothering me; it was on Shirou. There was something that I had only noticed when we were returning to the academy.

The back part of his hair, it was just a speck, however...

"...White, it was white." It was plaguing my mind like fire. But as I said, it was a speck of it so it was almost unnoticeable from some angles due to... Gah, no don't say it!

"What does this mean, and who is he anyway?" I pondered why he had that speck of white hair. From what I can tell, he didn't seem like a Noble and if that was the case, there was a high chance he doesn't have a crest. But with the fact there was white, it could be possible that he secretly does. Plus, he could be a lead.

"I need to look into this as soon as possible. For now, I'll head to sleep. I picked up the books and put them back where I found them. I took the candle with me and walked out to the hall. I knew that I needed to figure out if Shirou had a crest but doing so would prove to be a tad difficult... Wait, we could use **Hanneman**'s office! There was an instrument in there that can detect if a person has a Crest. Now, I need to figure out how I can get him there. Actually, I don't think I even need to think about that part, I'll just ask him to go with me.

"*Yawn* Looks like the fatigue has caught up with me." I was planning to practice some magic in the training ground but I was too tired to go and do it, so I'm going to retire for the night. But one thing that was on my mind was the taste of the sweets from that tavern we went to. It tasted just as sweet as a cake, despite it not being cake. ...I wish to go there again sometime.


	5. Chapter 5

6/15, Sunday, Garland Moon(June), Holy kingdom of Fearghus 

Slashing down the last of the enemy troops we were victorious. I took a deep breath after knocking down the last enemy upon the several others I had knocked down. They were mercenaries that had been targeting small shops in towns and make them pay for protection so and so forth. I've seen these types before but I just stayed away whenever I could, and considered that none of them knows my name, it's paid off rather greatly

"Oi, Byleth, I took care of my guys. They're knocked out cold, so we should get some of the knights down here to arrest these guys." "Alright, good work. Everyone gather up, I'm going to give the next set of instructions." I swung my sword and put my sword away. Everyone else gathered up around Byleth.

"So, what's next," Caspar asked grinning with excitement. "Nothing too complicated, we're going to check out the town nearby, just in case." "That sounds rather tiresome," Linhardt yawned. I somewhat agree but it's better to be safe than sorry when dealing with bandits. "Who's going then," I inquired."Hmm... You, Caspar and Linhardt." Not really a team combination I would want to be in mainly cause it seems like a bit more than a bother to be in.

"What will you do?" "We'll be scouting for over there for anymore and then we'll go meet with the knights." "Okay then, we'll be heading for the village." "Be careful you three," Edelgard warned us. "We will ma'am." We walked off towards the village from the hill we were on. When we arrived it was a ghost town. There was no one in sight on the streets. However, I did feel a few eyes on me, I didn't know if they were bandits or what but I had my guard up at all times.

"Is it just me, or is this town too quiet?" "Yes, it is rather quiet, but this quietness is the perfect place to sleep." He was about to go to sleep right on the spot. "Hey, Linhardt don't fall to sleep!" Caspar was shaking him to keep him awake. The feeling of eyes being on me only grew until I heard something besides Caspar yelling at Linhardt. I drew my sword and faced whoever was behind us. It was a man with a sword in his hands. He sprung back when he saw that I noticed him.

"What do you want!?" His voice was filled with fear. People started to come out from the woodworks, keeping their distance. "What do you bandits want!?" "What, we're not bandits," Caspar yelled, scaring the man with the sword. "S-stay back!" He swung his sword violently. He was going to hurt someone with that thing. I quickly disarmed him without hurting him. He had hit the floor when he tripped. "No, don't kill me!" "We're not-" *Thump* "Ahh!" Something had hit my head, looking down it was a rock. I saw who threw it, it was a woman. "Hey, why did you do that," Caspar yelled at her. More rocks began to fly towards us. "Leave our village, you scum!" As the villager said, we needed to leave, so I grabbed Linhardt and Caspar I started running.

"Whoa, slow down!" I had dragged us back through the way we came and after a minute of running, I stopped to put the boys down. "That was rather...unpleasent." "Sorry, but we needed to get out of there as soon as possible." "It's fine but is your head alright," Caspar asked. "It's good, just a bruise." "Well, that was incredibly rude, they didn't have to throw rocks at us!" "They did mistake us for bandits." "Why did they?" I could answer that but that was a less interesting question. The question that I want to know is why are there bandits so close to a Noble's territory?

"I'm sure they think anyone that isn't them are bandits due to the rebellion." Linhardt had said something interesting there. "What rebellion?" "There's a rebellion going on at the **Gaspard** territory. He's a noble of the Holy Kingdom." "A rebellion for what?" "They say Lord Gaspard is revolting against the church." "Why would he do that?" "Who can say..."

A rebellion that could turn into a revolution if the number of people builds up... Something like that would need to be dealt with immediately, especially because it's a Noble starting one.

"Are you alright, Shirou, you seem intense." Caspar snapped me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine." "Did that rock do more damage than you thought?" "Nah, I'm just thinking about something else." "Oh, well if you say you're fine then I'll leave it at that. For now, we should head back... But does anyone know where we need to head to next?" Caspar was scratching his head and Linhardt was seconds away from falling asleep again. I sighed to myself as I realized that despite Caspar's can-do attitude and Linhardt just falling to sleep his feet, I was the legs of this little group, so it made it a tad easier to get back to the others, even with Linhardt falling to sleep periodically...

Garreg Mach, Garith's new bar, afternoon

After coming back to Garreg Mach, I had separated from the others. I was putting this off due to fighting more and more bandits in the Kingdom as of late, but now that I had it on my mind I was going to do it. I was standing outside of Garith's new bar, the wooden door was all torn and beaten up. I could hear voices from outside. It sounded like the people inside were having a good time drinking their asses off. I opened the door to find out that the place was holding a sort of party, patrons were dancing all over the tables and everywhere else. Some were singing about the goddess.

"Seriously scruffy?" This was the opposite of drawing no attention. I navigated past all the drunks and went through the back to find Garith. There were some rooms back here, probably rooms or storage. I found a ladder leading up to an attic, and with no other room available, I went up into the attic. I popped my head in to find Garith with some other guys.

"Rock, is that you?" "Yep, what's going on down there?" "Can't you tell, a party." "I can tell, but why are you having one?" "Because it's better this way. We can't be a quiet tavern, that would be suspicious on its own, and I'm pretty sure the knights would look into it. Plus, with this many customers and the knights coming in to drink, we're making money on the side." "As greedy as ever I see. Well, just as long as it doesn't get you caught do whatever you like."

Garith had put down a box filled with booze and sat on a little stool. "Rock, how is everything going?" "Fine, but I gotta tell ya, it's pretty boring." "I didn't even know you could get bored, but you'll have to bear with it for a little while longer." "About that... I want to talk about what's going on with this job? I've been here for three weeks now, this is ridiculous." "I know, I'm trying to find out all that I can from my end but no luck so far. However, I noticed something about this contractor." "That would be?" "They have an interest in you." "Why me?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, but they sent me over here to monitor you, for some reason."

Monitor me for what? I'm going to do the job, so what use is there to keep tabs on me. Besides, I don't even know what I'm here for anyhow.

"Rock, this is beginning to concern me a bit." "I know, the job is unclear and the contractor told us to us to come to Garreg Mach of all places. This is starting to smell like a trap to me the more I think about it." "Yeah, that's why I told the rest to stay out of Mach for a bit until I give the okay, but looking at this in a more realistic light, we might have to cut our losses." It seems like a good idea, this isn't turning out to be worth the risk.

"But away from that, I heard you've been fighting near the kingdom as of late," Garith stated. "Yeah, bandit activity there is insane as of late. It was to the point where villagers nearby were willing to attack anyone who came near their village." "I see... I don't know much about it, but some of my men have been steering clear from parts of the kingdom for a while now." "They should keep doing so. There's a rebellion in the Gaspard territory." "Yeah, I don't know anything about that, but it is weird for an uproar to be caused in Noble's territory."

Garith got up from the stool and picked up a crate full of alcohol. "Mind helping me with this?" "Sure." When he was going down the ladder I grabbed the other end of the creat to help him down. "So, Rock, about the other day... Who was the girl?" "She's a student from the academy." "I know that, but what were you doing with her?" "We got in a fight and got punished with cleaning duty, so after she invited me out to get something to eat as an apology." "What do you mean fight?" "You know, sword vs magic type of fight." "Ah..." When I got down the stairs Garith put the booze down. A swift smashing sensation had been felt from on top of my head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, scruffy!?" "Have I taught you nothing?" "Huh, you taught me something?" "Yes, and that was to treat ladies fairly and to never raise a hand to them." "Screw that, she was the one who hit me first!" "Who cares, take it like a man!" "Like hell, I would!" "Course you don't, and that's why children like you need to be taught a lesson." "Like I need a lesson from you!" "Sure you don't. You're still a child after all, and such you're still inexperienced with women. In fact, I remember the time a waitress called you a cute young man and you started blushing like your cheeks were on fire."

That bastard knows I was sick that day, but even with that, it was still irritating to hear him say it as if I was some shy kid. I took the booze and ran out of the hallway into the main area. I slammed the crate on the bar table.

"HEY EVERYONE, A ROUND OF FREE BOOZE!" Everyone came around the bar and took a bottle from the crate. "What are you doing kid!?" "Nothing, just helping with the business." My next move was to run over to the door and get out of here. I continued to run back to the academy. "Hey, get back here, punk!" "See ya, old man."

He was still yelling from the tavern door. I might have overreacted but he should've known not to push my buttons. However, pushing that aside, our conversation in the attic was still at the forefront of my mind. I can't think of this as a coincidence that I was hired to come all I know, the knights could be looking to arrest me right now. No, I need to calm down, just take a moment. to think this through. The contractor wouldn't what name I'm going by in the academy so... No, they can just describe me. This is starting to affect my brain too much! I need to stop thinking about it too hard, and just see what happens when I get to the academy gate.

"Okay, nice and easy like." When I was in front of the gate, it began to open up. I was looking to my sides where the guards were, I was trying to see if they wanted to point their spears at me. "Fine day," I asked one of the guards. "Yes, it is." A simple reply, so far so good. The gate had opened wide enough for me to walkthrough. With caution, I walk into the academy, wary of anything that might come my way as I was making my way back to my room.

"There you are." A voice that rang throughout the entrance hall, and I knew who it belonged to. "I was trying to find you when I saw your class come back." It was Lysithea, who was as aggravated as ever I see. "Why were you looking for me? You sure you aren't stalking me?" "I would do no such thing, but that's beside the point. I have a favor to ask you." "And that is...?" "I would like for you to come with me to Hanneman's office." "Who, and why should I do that?" "I just wish to see something." To be honest, I was tired and wanted to go to bed, but she did buy me lunch and that does entitle me to do her a favor, so why not (besides, it's not like she's asking me to fight a monster or something like that).

"Fine, I'll go." "Excellent, I'll lead the way." She walked on in front as I was casually walking behind her. She was rather chipper about something, and it's kind of weird. We had made it to professor Hannerman's office. There were plenty of research tools neatly placed in the room, books stacked on bookshelves on the side. There was something in the middle of the room. A cylinder glass. "Hm, cool room, but why are we here?" "Simple, place your hand over the circle." As instructed, I put my hand over it. A purple circle popped up in the air. I was confused by what I was supposed to be seeing, cause all I saw was a purple circle.

"Huh, that's odd, you don't have one," Lysithea muttered. "Have one what?" "It was just a thought, but I thought you had a crest." Crests, those magical insignias that some Nobles have. I've seen commoners go crazy over them and damn right insane. Most Nobels that don't have them tend to be kicked out of their household. I've fought a few Crest users and they do pack a punch if used properly (though none of them ever did).

"What made you think I have one?" "Oh... I thought since you had such amazing speed and resistance to magic that you had a Crest." "Oh, well that's all-natural traits. A Crest doesn't hold a candle to me." Lysithea seemed to be amused by what I had said. "What?" "Nothing, I'm just used to the fact people are easily discouraged about not having a Crest." "That's them, not me. Besides, I'm already strong enough without one." "I see. You take a lot of pride in your abilities, I happen to have the same type of pride as well." She puffed her chest. She is pretty good with magic, not to mention strong as hell. I wonder...

"You got a Crest Ly?" "Ly?" "Yeah, I got tired the full thing so I made it shorter." "My name isn't that long to say. And yes, I do have a Crest. Why does it matter?" "Not much, I just wondered if you did since you were shooting me with strong magic." "..." Ly had this annoyed look on her face. "Are you okay? "Shirou, let me get one thing settled: my Crests aren't the reason my magic is strong, it's just there to give it a little boost. So don't tell me I'm strong because of my Crest. Is this understood?" She was deadly serious about this, she was obviously irritated but I didn't get why. "Okay, I get you." "Good, now, I'm going to the training field. I guess I'll see you around." "Wait a moment, you practice your magic?" "Of course, did you think I would sit around and just read what's in books and mimic them without practice?" For a second there I was going to say yes. "If you like, you can see the fruit of my efforts." I wasn't as tired as I was when I came back, so I might as well kill some time.

"Sure, let's go." "Excellent, we're going to go borrow some books from the library so you'll be doing some heavy lifting." "Fine." As she said, we went to the library and then to the training ground. These books were thick covers than spanned probably over 200-300 pages. Would she carry these by herself if I didn't?

Officer's academy, training ground, afternoon

I sat on the steps as Ly was doing her magic training. She would have me open specific books to an exact page and read it to her. I didn't understand half of the things in this book but she was easily able to understand it without pause. She must be a genius or something like that. "Shirou, can you read me the next step," she asked as she was holding a magical circle. "What page, 367." I was flipping backward to get to the page. "Okay, got it..." I read the whole page out loud. She was following along as she was doing the spell inside of the book, after a couple of seconds, she was able to pull it off without a hitch. She took a few seconds to breathe in a large amount of air. "Okay, now we're going to do..." "Maybe we should take a break." "No, I can still go for a little while longer." "You're breathing with all you got and I know magic takes a considerable amount of effort to do, so just take it easy for a bit and we can get back to it in a bit.

The girl was running herself ragged, she might continue to do so if I don't stop her. She came over to the steps and took a seat. She grabbed the book I was reading from but before she could place it on her lap, I took it out of her hand. "When I said take a break, I meant to relax." She groaned a little bit but didn't bother putting up a fight.

"So how was that," she asked me suddenly. "Well, the training seems a lot more complicated than I could imagine, I thought you just have to memorize words to do spells from a tome?" "No, tomes are sort of like a tool to help people new to magic. The words used in a tome are a conduit to direct our magical power into the book, the book then releases the spell that was chanted. It's an easy way to do magic, but that isn't to say they're not powerful, there are strong tomes that can turn the tide of battle." "Okay, but why practice without one?" "I need to be able to fight without one. As you know, tomes can only be used a certain amount of times, after that, a mage is defenseless." Huh, that sounds pretty complicated. I'm glad I just use a wooden sword in a fight...

"When did you decide you needed to?" When I asked her, her face began to turn red. She looked at her feet. "When...I um...ran out of uses for my tome in my first real fight." "Huh?" "Oh, don't look at me as if I was a child who slips and fell only to narrowly miss a sword aimed for me!" That's...a bit too on the mark to be a metaphor. I think it would be best to leave that alone though. But more importantly, it sounds like she's still green when it comes to a real fight...

"Oi, think fast."I drew my sword as fast as I could and placed it near her head. She flinched when it was near her head. I knew it, her reflexes are terrible. "What are you doing!?" she angerly demanded an answer. "You would've been killed if this was a real sword, or if I had hit you, you would've taken serious damage." "I know, that's why I'm asking you what are you doing!" "I'm teaching you something. Ly, you have the right idea about learning to use magic without a tome, but it doesn't mean anything if you can get hit. You clumsily fell on the battlefield, didn't you?" "That was just a minor mistake." "No matter the size of the mistake it could cost you a great deal; it could mean your life."

I got up from the ground. "You should brush up on your footwork, even if you are a mage." I put my sword away. Ly was sitting on the ground with her head held down. I might've taken it a bit too far but it's for her benefit, and besides, I'm not wrong, she got off lucky but she might not be as lucky next time.

"Ly, if you want me to leave I'll go, but consider what I said because it will save your life in battle." It was silent for a while but she then perked her head up at me. "No, you can stay, and you're right; I was negligent on that fact, I see that now..." "So what do you want to do now?" "As much as it sort of pains me, it is obvious that you know what you're talking about. So I'd like to ask for your help in improving my skills." Damn, I didn't expect her to turn my critics into something beneficial. Most of the other mercs I ever worked with would get angry about me criticizing their skills and how they operated.

"Oh...uh." "I won't waste your time, I'll repay you however you like." "Ehhh, I don't need to be paid, I'll help you when I can." "Excellent." She got up from the floor and stuck her hand out. This was something that I didn't expect to happen, not even think would happen, but nonetheless, I'm not exactly going to say no, and who knows, it might be fun.

"You better be ready, I'm not going to go easy on you." I shook her hand. "I am ready, so what's first?" She was getting pumped, and while the enthusiasm is good she's still probably spent. "Eh, let's start tomorrow." "How come?" "Because you need to pace yourself, needed or else your body won't be at peak condition. Do you stay up late?" "Yes." "Okay, for now on you have to go to sleep at a reasonable time." "But this will cut into my research time." "Maybe, but you're gonna need to do it if you want my help." She was thinking to herself for a moment, it was like she was having a hard time deciding wheater to take my instruction or not. It wasn't until she sighed to herself that I knew she had her answer.

"Fine, I'll try to manage my sleep." "Good, now I'm going to sleep." "Already?" "Yeah, it's practically night time, plus, at this time it's the perfect time to catch some sleep." I walked off towards the exit. "Hold on a moment." Ly had shouted to stop me. "You... You're going to leave me with this?" She pointed towards the books on the floor. I had forgotten them entirely and I thought she had as well. "Oh, umm, you can take those. Consider it muscle training." "Don't tell me carrying books had left you exhausted? Surely since you take pride in your strength you would have the stamina to back it up. I guess that was all just talk in the end." I knew she was using reverse psychology but damn it, it's working.

"Fine, I'll show you my stamina!" I stacked the books on top of each other, picking them up all at once. "Are they heavy?" she sarcastically asked me. "No, this is nothing!" "I see, then help me carry them to my room." "No problem!" She opened the door for me. They weren't this heavy before, I guess it's because she was carrying some before. Whatever, I got this, no sweat...

6/31, Officer's academy, entrance hall, morning

It was early in the morning, and I was eating a loaf of bread. The professor was busy meeting with someone.

"What's taking the professor so long," Casoar groaned. "He must be meeting with someone," Edelgard guessed. "...Or maybe he's still asleep, and maybe we won't have to go on the mission... Which means..." Bernadetta tried to sneak away from the group but Petra stopped her. "No running away." "No, let me go, I don't want to go out!" She's kind of a sad case when you get to think about it (and even if you don't it's still obvious.

"Byleth is taking forever," I said as I devoured the entire loaf of bread. "You always refer the professor to his first name, why is that," Dorothea asked. "Is that a bad thing?" "Not really, some might see it as rude though." "I don't care what other people think about me." "Is that so? I wish I had that same type of attitude sometimes." Is it so unnatural on how I act? It's not like I'm an overly rude guy or anything...

"Here he is," Edelgard announced as she took on a more Noble-like stance. Byleth was walking alongside somebody else, a female. She had blond hair that was tied back. She had this rough look to her that made her stand out just as much as me. Is she another merc?

"Everyone, we'll heading towards Gaspard territory today, and we'll be accompanied by a Knight today." She gave a two-fingered salute. "So these are your kids?" She was getting a feel for us, trying to size us up. "Hm... Most of them still seem pretty green but they seem okay nonetheless." She looked over at me. "Is that kid carrying a wooden sword?" "Yeah, it is." "You can't be serious, we aren't going out to play knight." "I know that, and trust me, I don't play around on the battlefield." "Is this okay professor?" He bobbed his head yes. "If you say so..." She walked in front of us and over to the door. "All right, today we're going to be going into Gaspard's territory, and as you might know, Lord **Lenato **is in charge of said territory. He's been leading a revolt against the church as of late, so we're going to be going over there to take control of the situation. We're heading out now, so if you need to buy equipment now's your only chance," the woman knight had told us.

"Wait, wait for me!" A student was coming down from the stairs. He had grey hair from what I could see and a bow slung on his shoulder. "Who's that?" He ran up to the professor and stopped to catch his breath...

"Ah, **Ashe**, I thought you weren't going to show," Byleth said. "Sorry, I was running a bit late when I couldn't find my bow." "We're about to leave, are you sure you have everything you need?" "Yes, professor," he responded with a stiff posture. He fell in line with our little group, he stood next to me. He was breathing in and out a lot.

"Breathing in quite a lot there," I told him. "Sorry, I'm just a bit nervous is all." "First time in a battle?" "No, but I am still a bit worried about the fight as well." "Well, just make sure you get it under control by the time we make it there." "I'll try, and thank you. I'm Ashe." "I'm Shirou, and I didn't do anything earn thanks."

Judging from the looks of this kid, he must not be a noble, so a commoner (not like it matters).

"I can't believe it though, we're going to be working with **Thunder Catherine**." "Thunder Catherine?" "Yes, that's her." He pointed towards the woman in front of us. She's the Thunder Catherine!? "Holy crap." "I know, isn't it exciting, working alongside a knight like her?" His eyes were practically shinning at the prospect of working with her. "Yeah, I guess." I heard about Thunder Catherine and her exploits, and they left me wishing not to face her as an opponent, but that was a side note in my brain compared to the other thing in my mind.

"Let's move," Byleth instructed, everyone else followed behind him. Ashe was staying behind. "What's the matter, getting nervous again?" "Yes, it's just..." I could tell asking for the details would lead to a can of worms. "You coming or not?" I walked towards the others, he was hesitant for a moment but then ran up to me. If this kid is so nervous why would he come with us on a mission? Eh, I guess it's none of my business, but maybe I should keep an eye on him just in case...

* * *

**First skit and a half**

**Lysithea: Umm...**

**Shirou: What, what's the matter?**

**Lysithea: Why are you dressed up as a Zombie?**

**Shirou: It's for the Halloween skit. **

**Lysithea: You do realize that it isn't Halloween? So we can't do it anymore.**

**Shirou: You underestimate the spirit of Halloween. Halloween is in all of us.**

**Lysithea: I see... But why didn't we do the Halloween skit on time?**

**Shirou: Easy, the author was grinding the event on FGO (F* G* O*), the damn castle and was grinding S* Q* so he could get Osakabehime, but little did he know it was bait banner, so the rate up was a lie. **

**Lysithea: Huh...?**

**Shirou: Furthermore, he was trying to level up the Musashi that he had gotten, along with E* Alter.**

**Lysithea: W-what does that mean? He should be more focused on writing the story!**

**Shirou: Chigawrong! Nothing is more important than grinding events and story for Quarts! The only reason he was writing is that he ran out of AP and didn't want to use fruits or quarts to refill it. But even when he ran out of AP, he would then switch from the NA server to the JP server and grind embers for Swimsuit Okita!**

**Lysithea: Umm.**

**Shirou: Don't you get it Lysithea being a free to play player is pain, so we have to put in twice as much effort in grinding not only do we have to grind materials and embers but we have to grind Quarts. This is the chain that binds all of us, this is what makes us all of us one! WE ARE ALL FREE TO PLAY!**

**Lysithea: ...**

**Shirou: ...**

**Lysithea: So, basically, the author has a gatcha addiction? That seems quite unhealthy. **

**Shirou: Yes, yes it is... But on the bright side, he's fully dedicated to getting the one saber that has eluded him so far.**

**Lysithea: And that would be?**

**Shirou: Hahaha, fool, who else but Souji Okita. But, that's not his only main priority, the true Priority is...!**

**Lysithea: Oh, I know, Merlin, yes? **

**Shirou: ...**

**Lysithea: What, am I wrong?**

**Shirou: We don't...talk about Merlin. He brings terrible memories of his last rate up banner.**

**Lysithea: I see... Then who is it?**

**Shirou: Only the most precious Berserker: M* H* X Alter**

**Lysithea: Why is it still being censored?**

**Shirou: Like I would know?**

**Lysithea: Well, in any case, so he's still doing the castle raid? He might as well give up since there are only three days left. **

**Shirou: Maybe.**

**Lysithea: So with that being said, why are we talking about FGO?**

**Shirou: That's a good question. I remember we were on about Halloween costumes. Oh and speaking of which I have this costume I wanted to show you.**

**Lysithea: Okay, as long as it's not a-**

**Shirou: Boo.**

**Lysithea: GHOST!**

**Shirou: Oi, Ly, where are you going? Why did she run away like that? However, putting that aside, happy belated Halloween. Now if we can get a word from the author?**

**Sage: FGO is pain, reroll if you didn't get E, Herc, or Tamamo.**

**Shirou: I see, I see... Thank you for giving us your word of advice. And with that, this is goodbye for now, and until the next chapter; see ya.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I had probably gotten the detail on why the fog was placed in the mission area of chapter 4 (of the game) but I decided to roll with it anyway.**

* * *

Holy Kingdom of Fearghus, afternoon

We finally arrived in the Gasoard territory. It was deep in the forest. I noticed that there was a lot of fog here, it was too dense, I couldn't see past it.

"What's up with this fog? I can't see anything," Caspar said with frustration. "Even if we cannot see, we need to stay vigilant," Ferdinand advised. "I am having difficulty seeing, why is smoke here," Petra asked. "It's fog, not smoke," Dorothea corrected. " I see, then why is fog here?" Good question, fog doesn't settle in during summer season and it isn't particularly cold here either... Hm, nothing really comes to mind. I noticed the professor and Edelgard talking to Thunder Catherine, she was showing off a weirdly shaped item.

"Oh my, that's it!" Ashe screamed next to my ear. "Whoa, Ashe!" "Oh, um sorry, did I scare you?" "Not really, you just disturbed me when you yelled in my ear," I told him. "Oh my, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell into your ear or anything I just..." "Okay, okay, it's not a problem, so you can stop apologizing." This kid was starting to make me look bad with all this apologizing. After a while I got him to stop.

"Hey, Ashe, you said something before like, " that's it. What was it?" "You mean you didn't see it, the weapon that Thunder Catherine was holding?" "Didn't even know that was a weapon." "The weapon she is holding is none other than Thunderbrand." "Thunderbrand..." I heard of it from Garith. It's one of many other magical relics that were passed onto the ten elite households called Heroes' relics. Each one has a special function to them and Thunderbrand's is to shoot lightning out of the blade. But I don't get what's so special about it, there other non-relic weapons that can use magic. Is it just a traditional thing?

"Seeing Thunderbrand is such an honor, even if it's just a glance it's still amazing." "You're excited." "Of course I am, being able to fight along with such a great knight like Thunder Catherine is a great honor. I wish to be a great knight someday..."

A great knight, huh? "Hm?" I felt something watching us from inside the fog. I couldn't tell what it was, but it wasn't just some wild animal. There was something brewing inside there, and I could feel it.

"Hey, Byleth, aren't we going to go check the forest," I questioned. "The knights I had brought with me are investigating the fog, so we'll wait until they return, we-" Catherine was cut off when a scream was heard.

"What was that," Catherine inquired. The sound came from the direction of the fog, something probably happened to the soldiers in there. "Professor, it appears that they were waiting for us in the forest," Edelgard stated. Then the fog isn't here by coincidence. There's a mage making the fog!

"Guys, there's a mage in there making the fog!" "Are you serious?" "Why do you think there's fog that isn't spread out to the whole area? It's there to cover the enemy. But I didn't even think that was possible." "It is possible," Hubert corrected. "A dark mage is capable of being able to manipulate the weather. However, doing such a feat is difficult with a tome." "Huh, I never knew that. Thanks, man." "I don't need your thanks." Yikes, how rude...

"We need to go in there," Catherine instructed. "That's not a good idea," Byleth told her. "If we go in there without a plan we'll be killed." "Then how about we just burn down the forest?" For a Knight of Seiros, she sure is full of careless ideas. "If we burn down the forest it'll probably affect the environment." Thank goodness that our professor isn't insane just like our legendary knight.

"I think we should send a group inside to find the mage making the fog," Byleth suggested. "What's the difference with what I said before?" "We all can't go in there all at once, we need to send in a small group, that way it'll be a tight net to watch each other's backs." "I see. That is much more sound than just charging in head-first. In any case, I'm going in there." "Fine by me, then I'll be sending in Shirou, Hubert, Ashe, and Petra." Byleth listed off our names.

"I-I'm going inside there?" Ashe was visibly nervous about moving into the fog. Not gonna blame him being nervous about it. But this isn't going to work if he's going to be panicking like this. "Ashe, I think you should stick back." "N-no, I want to go in, too. I need to go in there to find him!" Despite his legs shaking he was buckling down. I can tell that he has a strong desire to go inside of the fog, and while I don't think it's a good idea to take him I can understand where he's coming from all too well...

"Fine." His face lit up with joy. "But you're going to stick behind me while we're in there, got it?" "I understand." He seemed excited to go into the fog with us, but I'm sure it'll be fine as long as I'm looking out for him. Besides, we'll have Catherine with us, so it should be fine. After we got prepped for the venture into the fog, we approached the entrance to the fog.

"Listen, we're going to be heading into unknown territory, the enemy will be waiting to attack you from any side. If you aren't careful in there, you'll be killed with no hesitation," Catherine didn't beat around the bush, she told us the clean simple truth. "But if we all stick together we'll all be good," she then laughed to kill the tension but it instead killed the mood.

"I won't let my back go unprotected," Petra exclaimed. At least one of us was fired up; Ashe was... Actually he seems fine, he was just as fired up for some reason. Although, I could hear him whispering, "I get to fight with a famous Knight," several times over, so maybe that's the cause. Hubert was still sporting that creepy ass smirk. I guess I was still on edge with the fact we were going into an enemy trap and because I was with a strange team...

Hubert was using fire magic to illuminate the way through the forest. We took a four-way guard around him - Catherine in the front, Petra and I were on his sides, and Ashe was covering his backside. There was no way to know if someone was coming with just using my eyes, so I need to rely on my hearing.

"Be vigilant everyone, the enemy could be watching us," Catherine warned. She was probably focusing as hard as she could. It's been only five minutes since we entered the forest and it feels like we've been here for hours. I was checking on Ashe, he was wasn't shaking like a leaf anymore, but he seemed down about something. Ordinarily, it wouldn't be my problem, but it would be bad if he got killed for not paying attention. I broke formation to talk to him.

"Ashe, why are you looking down?" "Huh, oh, Shirou. It's nothing, I was just thinking about something." "Like what?" "It's nothing." "It wouldn't be nothing if you weren't affected by it. You don't have to tell me anything, but you should pay attention to what's going on right now." "Y-yes, I should... Actually."

I was going to return to my position until Ashe started speaking.

"I was thinking about a certain person, his name is **Lonato**. He's a noble in the Kingdom." "Never heard of him. He's a friend or something?" "No, he's more of a father to me. When I was a child, I grew up on the streets in the Kingdom. It wasn't easy surviving out there with no one to look out for you. It was especially harder since I had siblings to take care of." "..." "So I had to steal from people to survive and to provide for my siblings. Even when I did it for them I was not proud of myself for doing those things." "That's just how it is sometimes." "But one night, I decided to steal from a noble household. I was able to break in with ease, and I was able to pocket anything I could just as easily." "Guessing something went wrong?" "I wouldn't say that. When I was almost done, I had found this book. **(add more). **I had been paying attention to it for far too long to the point where I got caught. When Lonato caught me I thought I was going to be executed for sure, but instead of turning me in, he allowed me to have it. And not only did he allow me to have that book, he adopted me and my siblings..."

Never would've thought a kid him came off from the streets. Hmph, who am I to judge, huh? More importantly though...

"What does this Lonato guy have to do with this rebellion?" "Lonato is the one who started the rebellion. His full name is **Lonato Gildas Gaspard**." I see it now, he's the lord of this territory.

"What do you mean he's the one who started this rebellion?" "It was said that he had begun the rebellion on his territory and wanted to go against the church..." "And you knew that you would have to fight him?" "I... I don't want to fight him, but instead, talk to him." "What if you can't talk things out with him?" "But..." "What are you going to do if he doesn't listen to you? What would you do then, Ashe?"

He didn't answer me right away, he just silently mumbled to himself. I didn't mean to make the kid uncomfortable, but I need to know if he just came here with blind hope; it would be a lot more dangerous to allow him to have it.

"Hold!" Catherine orders us. I went up to the front to see what was going on. I could faintly see something, but it appeared to be a leg. I went up to it...

"Hm?" It was a person, not just a person, it was one of the knights. There was something wet coming from his chest area; blood. We were too late.

"It's a dead knight." I dipped my fingers in the blood. It was still warm, too warm. "Guys, I think he was killed recently, so we should be careful of-" I heard a twig break from the right-hand side, it appears Petra did as well. More footsteps were coming from all directions, they were about to swarm us. "Everyone, get ready!" We all got back to our positions and began to take defensive...

"Here they come!" They began to pour out like water. Five of them came rushing towards me. Taking them on in this position was a bad idea, so I charged for all five of them. They were going for horizontal slashes. I slid right under the middle guy's legs. I quickly got up and then hit them on the back of the neck as fast as I could. As soon as I looked back at the group Catherine was handling them with no problem whatsoever. Her technique and stance were no joke, she was able to easily use Thunderbrand to slice the enemies to shreds and parry whenever she needed to. Petra was fairing well against the enemies, she's taking on two at a time. Ashe wasn't doing so hot, they were closing in on him. I had to help him with the enemies that. As soon as I zoomed in on them I knocked each of them out quickly.

"Ashe, keep your eyes focused." "Sorry!" It had been two minutes of fighting. I wouldn't say it was hard but it was rather easy, these guys were making amateur mistakes. Hubert was slinging magic with only one hand and keeping the flame he had in his other hand lit. By the time we were done, we had pushed outside of the forest. I could kind of see that there were ruined structures in the mist but that's about it. There was magic coming from a part of the fog that wasn't illuminated but I had a general idea where it was coming from. I zig-zagged towards the mage and when they came into view I swung my sword faster than he could cast. I had broken through the helmet he was wearing. When he had landed on the floor, he dropped a tome.

"This is most certainly the tome causing the fog..." The tome had fog coming from it, this made it clear that this tome was causing the fog to happen. With that in mind, I stabbed the tome with my Bokken, and soon after, the fog began to disappear. Now, I could see the knights that were in the fog. Most of them were on the floor, dead. I knew that it was a possibility since we found that one dead knight, but this was...

"HAAAA!" Catherine jumped into the air and slashed down one of the soldiers. She then quickly slashed another. She acted without a shred of mercy and moved faster than any knight I've met. I heard yells of other soldiers coming from in front of us. There weren't too many so I could handle them. As I thought that though, magic came flying over my head, wiping out most of the enemy troops. Hubert was the one who had done it.

"I'm sorry, was that a bit close?" "Well, I guess that's less work for us, right Ashe? Ashe?" He was gone, he was just right behind me. I was looking for him around the ruins. I couldn't see him anywhere, so that means he's far up ahead. He's probably going to meet Lonato. I had to get to the front immediately without taking too long to get there. So I went back into the forest to sneak my way over there...

...

On the other part of the battlefield, Ashe had snuck through the forest, sneaking past many of the troops on the battlefield. He got lost a few times but he eventually made it to where he wanted to be. "He's here." As he closed in while trying to keep his distance, someone had snuck up behind him.

"What!?" He jumped backward out of the forest and into view of the enemies. He drew a bow out but he failed to gain enough distance to be able to fire it at the enemy. He dodged again only to be cornered by another enemy. He was laid out on the floor.

"Die, you Rhea serving dog!" Just as he saw the enemy point their spear to his chest he was convinced he was going to die right then and there. "Don't kill him!" A voice boomed throughout the area, the soldiers had stopped dead in their tracks. Ashe had looked to see whose voice that was...

He knew who it was, it was the man he was looking for, it was Lonato.

"Lonato, it's you." "Ashe, what are you doing here!?" "I'm here because-" "Are you here to stop me?" He knew what he was going to say before he even asked why he was there but he just wished it wasn't the said reason...

"Why have you started this rebellion, Lonato? What is the point of all this bloodshed?" Lonato knew he would also ask that, so he had an answer prepared for him. "Rhea is an infidel, Ashe. She is a blight to the church and the people of Fodlan. The only way to be rid of her is to kill her." "What does that even mean? Why lady Rhea a blight to the church and Fodlan?" "I realize that this much to take in, but this is a truth. Every day that Rhea stays as the head figure of the church, the more corroded the church becomes, the more tainted Fodlan becomes; it took until Christoph's death to make me realize this..."

Ashe was dumbstruck. He didn't know how to respond to Lonato's reasoning for starting this rebellion, he didn't even understand why Christoph was involved in this. He was utterly confused...

"Ashe, join me. Join me so we can save Fodlan from Rhea, together." Ashe didn't know what to do or say his proposal. He considered joining him. However, before he came to a decision, he remembered what Shirou told him, _"What are you going to do if he doesn't listen to you? What would you do then,_" While he didn't get a conclusion just by remembering that, he did know what to tell Lonato.

'Lonato, I have to tell you something." "That would be." "Over the years, I wanted to be a knight because they were chivalrous, brave, and kind to those in need. I wanted to become a knight after reading tales of different knights that have been recorded in history. I wanted to be a knight because of how excellent they are, but that's not the only reason I wanted to be a knight. I wanted to be a knight so I can show you my gratitude; I would become a knight to make you proud, to show you that adopting me was not a waste and that you can take pride in the man you raised... So I ask of you, please surrender and stop this rebellion."

Ashe had his head held high, he was firm on what he wanted. Lonato was amazed by Ashe's sudden confidence, it can be said that he felt pride. However, he also felt bitterness.

"I see... Then I guess we shall have to be adversaries." Lonato readied himself for combat. Ashe was saddened by his reply, but he wasn't going to lose confidence now. He had his answer.

"Then, Lonato, I shall fight against you." Ashe knocked an arrow onto his bow and aimed at Lonato, who was speeding for him on horseback. Ashe was ready, he knew that the only to stop the rebellion was to defeat him. He still had reserves against fighting him but he knew it had to be done...

"Body coming through!" A voice had announced. A person went flying through the air in between Ashe and Lonato, disrupting the both of them.

"What the?" Lonato saw someone jump in front of the body. He was barely able to dodge the figure's attack.

"Who's there!?" "So, you're Lonato? Wow, you're more badass looking then I thought. Too bad it won't matter when I'm done here." Shirou had stood in between them. He had an open wound on his head.

"Oi, Ashe, nice speech you did there." "Shirou, you're bleeding!" "Huh, oh don't worry about that, I'm fine. I was ambushed by an archer in the forest but I was able to dodge it but I still got a scratch on my head. Hurts a bit but it's nothing..."

Ashe was glad to see that he was fine but he wondered how he knew that he made a speech. To shed light on this, Shirou was watching the whole time, he could've helped Ashe but didn't want to ruin the mood of the moment.

"Are you with lady Rhea?" "Me, nope, I don't even know her. But I do know that you've gone off the deep end. Causing a rebellion like this because you think she's not a good fit for the church. Wouldn't a political approach be better." "A child like you would never understand why we do this," Lonato argued. "No I do, but what I don't understand is why you would get your people involved in this matter? You do know that all this affects them, right? Or are you that self-absorbed into your cause?" "Nonsense, my people are involved because they know what threat Rhea brings to Fodlan. That's why they fight with me on this very field, to be eid of all of you.". " Huh?"

Shirou didn't know if he heard that right but he had just sworn he heard him say his people are the ones fighting/and not soldiers...

"What did you just say?" "My people know the risks of fighting alongside me, but they still fight by my side. And so, for each person that has lost their lives in today's battle, I shall slay Rhea with all of their wraths." The boy's hands were trembling with rage at his statement.

"...How are you so sure?" "Because the goddess is on our side!"

That was the last trigger for Shirou, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that all of this was just nothing but a grandiose sense of importance.

"So with the wrath of the goddess, I shall-" Shirou didn't care to let him finish, he ran for him. His movements were much faster than before. He was too fast to see coming and within a second he was already at Lonato's height. "*Gasp*" Lonato blocked with his lance but it was no good, Shirou was able to break it in half and strike Lonato with a piercing attack. "GAHH!" He was pushed off his horse while Shirou was standing on it.

"Lonato," Ashe screamed. Shirou jumped off the horse and walked over to Lonato who was on the floor. The strike was powerful enough to break the armor he was wearing...

"How can I be beaten, the goddess is supposed to be on our side." "Shirou walked over to him, slowly with his wooden sword in hand.

"Shirou, stop, that's enough, you've already beaten him!" "No, it's not enough." Ashe was scared over what Shirou would do to him, to what cruel punishment he would server Lonato. So he ran as fast as he could to stop him. Shirou had crouch down on top of Lonato, he grabbed him by the collar. He raised his sword to the air, making it seem as if he was going to stab Lonato with it.

"If this is my fate, then serve it but know that there will be others in my place." "Then don't mind if I do!" He brought the sword down, stabbing it in place. "LONATO!" "YOU MORON!"

Ashe heard Shirou's voice ringing throughout the land...

"The goddess is on your side? You'll avenge your people by slaying Rhea with their wrath? Are you a moron!? What good is all that crap? The goddess is not on your side nor are you going to slay Rhea! Wanna know why: it's because I stopped you, I've beaten you! So tell me, if a kid can beat you, then why the hell do you think you have a shot at fighting Rhea!? Just because you're an elder doesn't mean you can't be a moron! And your people are suffering because you're a moron! They're dying for you because of your stupid ass cause. So why don't you do me, your people, and Ashe a favor and stop being a total, freaking moron...!"

When he was done, he faced up to the sky. He was trying to catch his breath after yelling for a whole minute. Ashe was shocked to see what was happening. The wooden sword was stabbed into the ground right next to them. He surely thought he would've killed him, so Ashe was surprised by this development...

"Now, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop the villagers, I don't want anyone else to get hurt..." Shirou got up from Lonato. He plucked out his wooden sword from the ground.

"Oi, Ashe, watch over Lonato, I'm going to go knock the villagers before they're killed. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Shirou went off to fight the enemies into submission. Ashe had gotten a good look at him go off to fight the enemies that were left. He was feeling many different things at the time, but the thing he felt the most was being amazed by Shirou's actions.

"Ashe..." He heard Lonato's voice, as weak as it was. "Lonato, are you okay?" "Yes, I am fine... I'm just surprised is all." "About what?" "I thought that boy was going to kill me for a moment. But then he tells me I'm a fool. Haha, how utterly embarrassing." "It must be." Ashe chuckled lightly to himself. This was the first time in a long while since the both of them were able to talk to each other, they were both happy about this little exchange.

"That young man's eyes, they had fury behind them when he struck me but they died down when he yelled at me. Instead, there was anger mixed in with sadness in them." "Sadness?" Why would he be sad, Ashe wondered. It was a bit puzzling to him.

"Ashe, I will probably get apprehend by the church. So this probably is the last moments we may share." "I know Lonato and before then, I'd like to talk to you about my experiences at the academy and my journey to becoming a knight." "Please do..." Ashe began to go over what he had learned at the academy, Lonato silently lied down on the ground listening to him. It would be half an hour later that the rebellion had been put an end to. Shirou had managed to have saved some of the villagers, however, most of them were dead. He was too late to save most of them. Lonato and the people that were still alive were taken into custody by the church. The battle was won but this was a battle that was hollow in victory for Shirou. To him, this was a pointless battle that could've been avoided, and this had angered the boy deep down inside...

Garreg Mach, Officer's academy, evening

I was strolling down the hallway on the second floor of the reception hall. I had to go to the nurses' office for a check-up after my little head wound. The nurse is pretty weird and rather...flirtatious. But as I was going down to the first floor, I heard Byleth's voice coming from the grand double door. I could barely hear what they are saying in there.

"What happened to Lonato and the people we brought in," Byleth had asked. They're probably in a cell. It's probably gonna hurt for Ashe for a bit but at least they can still see each other via visits. "They have been given the proper punishment. They have been executed."

What!? "Executed?" "Yes," the lady answered. "The civilians too?" "Those who dare point their swords at the goddess do not deserve to live. This goes for all..." Her voice, this woman's voice had an annoying superiority behind it. "...Whether they are students of the academy or civilians, they will all be punished." I couldn't help myself anymore, I have to go in there and give her a piece of my mind.

"You there, don't think about going in there." I didn't need to turn around to know that it was Thunder Catherine.

"What do you think you're doing, spying on the professor and lady Rhea?" "Nothing, I just happen to hear them by chance?" "Is that right?" "It is..." I stepped away from the door and Catherine walked in front of it.

"Are you okay, you had a nasty wound on your head?" "Yeah, I'm fine. But I want to know about Lonato's execution," I asked her. "What's there to know? He was a traitor of the church, thus he was executed." "Was this decided over being put in a cell?" "No such punishment exists for going against the church." "You're kidding me, what about the civilians?" "They too were executed."

So all the people that I thought I had saved were already dead from the start...?

"We punish anyone that dares to turn their blades against the church, even if it's a student..." She then put one hand on Thuderbrand. "But I'll be frank, I don't fight for the church, I fight for Rhea, so anyone that dares to make an enemy out of here is my enemy." "Even if they don't like her at all?" "Yes." "How narrow-minded of you." "Say what you like about me, but if you insult lady Rhea, or even decide to go against her, I'll make you regret it."

She was dead serious, she would probably kill me if I speak ill of Rhea. But really, I don't care what threat she slings at me.

"Whatever, I'm not afraid of a dog like you." "What did you just say!?" "Don't blame me, the truth bites."

I went over to the stairs for the first floor of the reception hall. "What's your name," Catherine asked. "Its Shirou." "I'm going to keep an eye on you, Shirou." "You do that, now run along, I think your master is calling for you..."

I took my leave shortly after my insult...

Garreg Mach, Garith's bar, evening

I had opened the entrance door to the bar and immediately noticed that there were no customers and Garith was behind the bar counter. "Rock, how you doing? Hey, you alright, you seem-" "RAGGGH!" I slammed my fist against a wooden table.

"Whoa, what the hell is the matter with you kid!?" "I'm sorry, I needed to do that. I'll pay for a new one." "Nah, forget it, I was meaning to throw that one out." I took a seat at one of the tables and Garith came from the counter to sit with me.

"What happened kid, you get rejected by a cute girl?" "No, it's nowhere close to that." "Then tell me, I'm all ears..." I told Garith what had happened during the mission today and the aftermath of it.

"I see what's got you upset now. I'd pissed too." "I get why they would execute the Noble, but not the civilians. They should be put in prison at the very least." "The church doesn't care who it is, they killed anyone that goes against them." "Exactly what that woman said," I mumbled.

"However, I don't think it's for the church, I think it's because Rhea doesn't want anyone to mess with her. When you think about it like that, maybe Lonato has a point." "Maybe, but I don't agree with his actions." "Yeah, you're right about that. But there was something you said earlier that got my attention. You said, 'that woman said the same thing'. What does that mean?" "I was talking about Thunder Catherine." "I see, I see... You met her?"

There was something wrong with the air here, Garith's expression was serious now. It was kind of creeping me out now.

"Y-yeah...I did." "Is that so, then answer me honestly here... Was she hot?" "What?" "Was she undeniably hot? Answer the question." "What?" "Damn it kid is she the most breathtaking woman you have ever seen in your entire life!? Answer!" "I don't care about that stuff!" "Well, I do. It is the most fundamental thing I need to know!"

Scruffy was beginning to lose it and was slipping into his imagination. I didn't think it was true but it looks like it is. I was told by some of the members of Garith's band that he had a big-time crush on Thunder Catherine and whenever she's mentioned he goes into a terrible lecture about her fine points.

"Hey, Scruffy." "...Her skin tone is one of the great features but not only that, but her tomboyish attitude is also just as great if not even more. And let's not forget the abs she's packing away." "Scruffy." "And there's the fact that she can use a relic weapon. She's so damn perfect it's killing me!" "Scruffy, will you cut this crap out already!"

I tried to shake him back to reality before I lost him to his weird fantasies. "What, what happened," he asked in a daze. "You were going on about... Um, forget about it, it was nothing." I had better be careful about what I say next since it might lead him back into his weird fantasies. There was something more important to discuss...

"Listen, Garith, I think we should leave Garreg Mach." "What makes you say that?" "Now that I know the church is ruthless about traitors, I don't want to see you executed. So we should leave while we have the chance. Besides, this job has nothing to it except to come here, so there's no point in continuing to do it."

He rubbed his head with a bothered look on his face.

"You'd be right ordinarily, but we can't do that," Garith said with a half-hearted expression. "I know this would pay a lot of money, but I'm not risking our lives for nothing." "Then good thing we aren't." "Why do you say that?" He dug his hand into his pocket and presented an envelope to me. "Because we have our next set of instructions now..."

Officer's academy, evening

I was dead tired. Today left me pretty beaten and tired, so when I hit the bed I'm never waking up. "Hm?" When I was cutting through the area with the classrooms, I saw Ashe sitting on a bench all by himself... He must know about Lonato's death. He could want to be by himself. But for some reason, I walk over to him anyways.

"Oi, Ashe." He turned his head and gave a small smile. "Hello, Shirou," I sat down next to him. "So, do you about what happened to Lonato," he asked me. "Yeah, and I'm sorry." He probably didn't want anyone to pity him.

"What're you doing out so late," I asked. "I'm just looking up at the stars, trying to clear my head. What about you?" "I was going for a stroll." The night sky in the Officer's academy has plenty of stars to see.

"I feel confused," Ashe told me with his hands to his face. "I don't how to feel about Lonato's execution, about his actions, and about how the church killed him. I'm angry at them for killing him but I can't say it was unjustified. I don't know how to feel about being a knight, too. They're the ones that executed him and they do it with no hesitation. There nothing excellent about it at all... Is my idea of being a knight bad, is it naive to want to become one?"

He was in real pain and on the verge of tears. I couldn't leave him like this, it wouldn't be right.

"Ashe, I'm gonna be honest, I hate the idea of knighthood." "Huh?" "It's a system that serves a singular person and depending on said person, they can either be used for good purposes or bad, maybe both. I hate it because of its principles; needing to do whatever a king or commander says even if it's the wrong call. Some, if not most knights piss me off."

That seemed to have gotten Ashe's spirits down even further. "But, I think I was looking at it the wrong way until now. Ashe, don't tell me why you want to be a knight, tell what an ideal knight is." "An ideal knight... He must be brave, strong, heroic, but kind is chivalrous." I see.

"I get the Brave and strong part, but why chivalrous and kind?" "Because he wouldn't be a..." "Nah, Ashe, you got that wrong." "Excuse me?" "Who's ideals are these, yours or someone else's...?" He seemed somewhat puzzled by my question. It took him a while to figure out what I meant.

"They're... They're are mine, they belong to me. I want to be that knight, I wish to be a brave, strong, heroic, but kind and chivalrous knight! This what I wish to become, and this belongs to me alone."

It looks like he got the message. "There you go, you got your answer, so stop asking if it's right or not because you should know better than anyone else." "You're right, I won't allow mt ideals of knighthood to be lost, I always move forward with them." "Then it looks like my job here is done..."

I got up from the bench.

"Well, I'm tired, so I'm off to bed." "All right, I wish you a goodnight. Also, thank you Shirou, for helping me and Lonato today; he was able to gain some sense of his actions by the end thanks to you." "No problem." I just wish I could've done more to help him.

"By the way, I have to ask you, what is it that you want to be yourself," Ashe asked. "Why do you ask?" "I was only curious is all." "Well, I couldn't be anything else than a lone traveler. That's all I was," I answered. "What does that mean?" "Nothing at all now. Now I'm just a regular student of the academy, so I guess I'm that."

With that, I took my leave, Ashe had done the same. I strolled towards my room, trying to take in the night air. I couldn't stop thinking about what Ashe had said: "what I want to be"...

"I can't be anything else but 'that'. That's the only thing I was allowed to be, nothing more, nothing less..."

* * *

**Hello everyone, Sage here and wow, this had turned out a lot more dramatic than I expected. I know this will be strange to talk about but screw it, let's have some fun. Doing this chapter was a lot more research and actual gameplay oriented than I thought it would be. When I decided to put Ashe in this chapter I had to watch different support convos to see what Ashe's character was beyond a surface level and then apply what I learned. But I had to alter some of the dialogue conversations of the chapter this chap was based on so it can flow better with the thing I was going with for Ashe. In my opinion, the beginning part was a bit spotty but I think I did a good job by the end half. But back to the research thing. Doing it for this fic is actually pretty easy in comparison to my Persona 3 one, mainly because it is a lot simpler and less complicated, but I still do it for that mainly because it's pretty fun. I think I should've had Edelgard talk to Shirou about the mission and its aftermath but who knows, I might do it the next chance I get. I'd say this was also a pretty great chapter for Shirou/Rock since we get a little bit in-depth with how he reacts to needless deaths and other such things. So yeah, overall: I'd say I'm satisfied with how this turned out. I expect the next chapter to be released soon and until then; see ya...**

**P.S. Do review the story and follow, these two things help a lot.**


	7. Chapter 7

7/9, Monday, Garreg Mach. Afternoon

Morning classes had just ended and I was waking up from my morning semi-nap. I didn't mean to nap in the middle of class but I just can't stay awake for some reason when Byleth is teaching. I went to sleep as early as I could, so I don't know what's wrong.

"Hm?" Speaking of Byleth, I saw him over at the fishing dock, quietly staying still. I went over to him out of curiosity of what he got.

"Oi," I greeted. "Hey, Shirou, what are you doing here," Byleth asked. "Eh, just trying to kill time, what about you?" "The same." The pond was as quiet as it ever could be. "I don't get the big deal about fishing as a past time, it's pretty borning." "It's not exactly the most exciting thing but it helps me relax for a bit." "I guess being a teacher is hard." "It certainly is a bit of a task more so than taking out targets. But I can't say that I regret becoming one, it's been oddly enjoyable." "Ah." The pond was still silent, nothing was taking the bait. "Do you enjoy being here yourself, Shirou?" I thought this place was boring and I wasn't lying about that, but this place never gave me a reason to hate it.

"I don't know. I don't have a clear answer for that." "Is that so? Well, I suggest you give it more time to decide if you enjoy it here or not." "I'll try but I won't hold my breath."

Something was pulling at the bait from inside the water. Byleth took a grip of his rode and pulled as hard as he could. The fish came flying out of the river, it was a pretty big fish.

"Cool, you think you can cook that?" "You want it," Byleth asked me. "Sure but I don't know how to cook fish on a stove." "I see, then do you want me to cook it for you?" "You can cook?" "Yes, I had to cook for myself while my father was away." "Your father? Was he a traveling merchant?" "No, he's a Mercenary." His father is a merc? Well, at least it's accurate to say that it runs in the family now. "What was your father's name?" "You don't know? His name is **Jeralt**." "Ah... Wait, what?" Huh? Huh? Is this some kind of joke? Jeralt, the blade breaker is this guys dad? This must be some kind of sick prank.

"B-by Jeralt, you don't mean the Blade Breaker Jeralt, right?" "Yes, that one, and speaking of which, he's right over there." He pointed to him. "Father," Byleth shouted, he was waving over to him. He was walking over to us right now. Holy shit, this isn't a joke, this is for real!

"Hello Father," Byleth greeted. "Hello to you too, kid. Oh, who's this, is he one of your kids?" "Yes, his name is Shirou." He's right in front of me, he's right in front of me, he's right in front of me!

"Um, you okay kid?" "Oh, yeah... Umm." I stuck my hand out towards him, it was shaking like a leaf in a tornado. "May I shake your hand?" "Excuse me?" "I'm a big fan of yours!" Damn it, why the hell is my face hot, why am I embarrassed!?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to give a handshake." He shook my hand. This was a great but somewhat embarrassing moment for me, but great nonetheless.

"Hang on, are you the kid he told me about?" I tried to collect whatever composure was left and make a response. "Depends on what he mentioned." "He said you fight with a wooden sword instead of a real one. When he told me about you I didn't believe it but considering it was coming from him, I couldn't think of a reason why he would lie about such a thing."

This was the first time I felt embarrassed instead of feeling smug about someone being shocked about me using a wooden sword.

"Aw, it's nothing I'm just doing what I do best," I sheepishly said as I was pressing my fingers against each other. "Though, it does seem a bit dumb to do so, wouldn't you agree Byleth?" "I did speak to him about it but he does fairly good with that sword, so I guess letting him keep using it in battle isn't so bad. Overall, I think he's an impeccable fighter."

Byleth's line was getting something. "Wow, it looks like you got something there teach." "Yes, and it's quite, heavy...!" He was having trouble pulling it up. "Hand it over." He gave it to me and I have immediately tugged me over to towards the water.

"Crap, that is heavy! But not heavy enough!" I began to pull the line out of the water. The bastard was giving me a hard time but I wasn't going to give up so easily. I faced away from the river and I slung the rode over my shoulder. I pulled as hard as I could, and in just a few moments, I pulled a fish out of the water.

"That's a large one!" The thing must be a foot long at least. Not only was it long, but it also looked really tasty. "Hey, when can we cook this?" "We could, but it would take quite a while," Jeralt said. "It would probably take a while to cook it." "In that case, I'll come back to the kitchen in a couple of minutes to see if you guys finish cooking it."

I got off the docks. "Oh, it was nice meeting you Blade breaker." I bowed in respect. "That reminds me, Shirou if you can, can you do a few favors." "Sure, what is it?" "Here." Byleth gave me a piece of paper. There were things listed onto it by numeral order. "Can you get someone else to do this, I got something else to do today, and-" "I'll give you extra credit if you do this for me." "Huh, what's that."

_A few moments later._

"Ah yeah, don't worry I'll get this done in no time flat, just you watch!" I left running off in a random direction. I took a look at the list. The first thing on it said, _"tell Bernadetta to attend classes more often." _"What the...?" Now that I look at the list, I realized something, these were instructions to the rest of my classmates (the ones that I fight with). He dumped his duties onto a student.

"For a guy who's considered to be a new great teacher, he sure is lazy."

**_Visit 1: Bernadetta_**

I was certain that she was here, other students told me that she was in her room. I knocked on the door seven times now. "Oi, Bernadetta, you there?" "No, Bernie isn't here!" I'm pretty sure she is. "Open the door, I need to speak to you." "I'm not coming out, you can't make me!" "Come on, it's not like it'll kill you." "Yes it will, I'll die if I go out there, besides, why are you here?" "That's why I wanted to talk to you about, I'm-" "...Here to kill me!" Where in the living hell did she get that conclusion? Not only that, she was putting up a fight to not go outside.

"I-I won't fall for it, I'm not going out there. So you can leave now." A normal person would give up right about now because of her difficulty. However, instead of this making me want to quit, this made me want to get that door open; maybe I should kick it open? No, this will require a more subtle touch...

"Okay, I'm gonna go now, I guess you should stay inside. I'll leave a piece of cake at the door..." I climbed up to the beam that was supporting the other floor dorm she opened the door I dropped down in front of her. "Got ya!" "AHH!" She rolled back away from the door, hitting her head against her room's wall.

"Please, don't kill me, I haven't lived long enough!" "Geez, can you stop saying I'll kill you." "T-then what do you want?" "Byleth told me to-" "No, wait, are you trying to get me outside, aren't you!?" "Sort of." "Nuh-uh, nope, I won't do it!" I could tell that this would be a one-sided argument if we go on.

"Listen, I'm not here to kill you, and I'm not here to drag you outside, I'm here to tell you to just go to class." "Huh? O-oh, wait, just go to class? Okay, yeah, I can do that! I... Might not be able to do that." She was beginning to freak out after motivating herself. "Hey, calm down, will you." I tried to calm her down but in the end, she was just freaking out even more. I decided to cut my losses and just skedaddle. "Um, hang on a moment!" She caught my attention. "I, um, well..." Stammering along, she closed the door in front of my face. At this point, I was wondering if it was a message telling me to just leave.

"I... I just wanted to say thank you, for saving me." "When did I do that?" "During our first mission!" "Oh, that's right, I remember now." "Ah, I'm sorry! Maybe you didn't want to remember saving someone like me." "It's not that. I just only remember one part of that mission, the rest is a bit meh to me." "Oh... So you aren't angry at me," Bernadetta asked. "Why would I be?" "You aren't!?" "Yeah, I'm not mad at you for any unexplained reason so you can relax. All I came here to tell you was to come to class more often. Now if you excuse me, I have to get going." "Before you do, I'm sorry for making you waste your time telling me to go to class." "Eh, no hair off my back, just make sure not to stress yourself out, all right?" "All right, yeah, I won't stress myself out...! How do I do that?" Oi vey...

**_Visit 2: Dorothea_**

I was trying to find Dorothea around the academy. Some of the students said that she was in the entrance hall, then in the reception hall, then in the monastery. I was getting a bit frustrated trying to find her, but as it turns out, I found her in the monastery. She was in the middle of a choir, singing along with them. I didn't know if it was just me, but her voice was standing out from the others, not in a bad way, rather in a more impressive way. Her voice was much more defined and like a diva or something like that. To say the least, it's amazing. I waited for the song to end before speaking to her. However, after she finished she went up a knight. I could faintly hear them.

"That was amazing Dorothea," the knight complimented. "Thank you, but it was truly nothing. And about that date...?" Ah, I see what's going on here. I wanted to leave but the professor gave me a job, and I wasn't exactly the type to leave something unfinished (unless I absolutely need to or I just feel as if it's not worth my time). Actually, what am I supposed to visit her for? I took a quick glance at the list, it said to talk to her about the flirtations with the knights. I don't think it would go over well if I did, and it's not like I care to anyway. I was going to take my leave, but before I did, I heard a bit more of the conversation...

"...I'm sorry, but I think I'll have to cancel the date," Dorothea apologized to the knight with the least amount of sincerity as I've ever heard. "But, why?" "Because, I just can't, again I am sorry." "Unbelievable," the knight stormed off mumbling under his voice. A moment ago it seemed as if she and that knight were hitting it off.

"*Sigh* I couldn't believe how long he was able to compliment my voice for, even when I tried to change the subject. And I thought he would be a nice person to date, too." She sighed to herself in frustration. She sat down on the bench next to the pillar I was hiding behind. It was clear that she was angry about her canceled date but there was more to it than what the surface level provided. However, that's none of my business. With nothing else to do here, I left the monastery and went to visit the next person on the list.

**_Visit 3: Ferdinand_**

Next was Ferdinand. I didn't know the guy all that well but I knew that he was an insufferable ass who liked boasting about being a Noble or Noble's duty or whatever the hell. I didn't have any bones to pick with Nobility, it was just him acting obnoxious as all hell that had me staying away from him. I found him out in the town. He was confronting two individuals, and they appeared to be drunk. I noticed that they were wearing some rather extravagant clothes; could he be a Noble?

"Please stop fighting at once, can't you both see you're embarrassing yourselves in public," Ferdinand scolded. "Oh, be quiet you brat!" "This between us, stay out of it!" Both of them had a point, if they wanted to look like idiots in the middle of town, let them do so and let the knights sort them out.

"Won't you two at least consider what would happen if people see two Noblemen fight in the middle of the street drunk, they'll think badly about the Nobility!" "Shut up!" One of the Nobles had hit Ferdinand in the gut. He staggered back a bit.

"Children like you think you know what Nobility is when you haven't even done anything worth a damn!" He was going for seconds. I picked up a rock and threw it at the noble's hand. "Ah!" It had hit its mark and soon after the Noble was looking for whoever threw it.

"You, did you throw that rock at me," he slurred his words while pointing at me.

"Huh, me? I didn't do anything, but I did see you a rock hitting your hand. What, did it hurt?" "Why you little." He came over to me and grabbed me by the collar. "Do you know who I am?" "Should I care?" He was ready to throw a punch at me. I could've beaten him with the butt of the Bokken, but that would take some effort. So that's why I'm using more legitimate means.

"Hey, what's going on here!" Two knights came running over to us with their swords in hand. Perfect timing...

"What is happening here? Sir, what are you doing with the student," The knight question as he was drawing his sword. "Nothing, just playful horsing around. He gets like this when he's drunk, isn't that right?" I put my head close to his ear.

"If you don't want to get in trouble with the knights I suggest you let me go and leave town. And if I catch you hitting another student again, I'll make sure that I won't be the hurting you with a rock," I whispered to him. He immediately let me go and left the area with a scowl on his face.

"See, having a good time with the townspeople." The knights seemed apprehensive about what just happened but they decided not to question it. They left without any delay.

"Well now, that was fun. Are you alright Ferdinand?" "Yes, I'm just fine." "Good, see ya." "Wait, aren't we going to conversate?" "Why, I got other things to do." "Well, I just mean that we never really spoke to each other before outside of battle." That would apply to most of my classmates really.

"Fine, if you got something to say then say it," I told him. "I'd like to say that your skill with your sword is quite impressive." "Thanks. Is that all you needed to say?" "Sorry, I just wanted to tell you that your swordsmanship is different from that of students that were trained by the knights, or from Nobles." "Thanks, I guess." "However, I do have to say, it is quite... loose," Ferdinand judged. "Oh, is that so?" "Yes, you fight with no style whatsoever, it's just slashes and pierce attacks. If you ask me, you should practice proper swordsmanship. No matter, I shall aid you."

Now he was getting on my nerves.

"No offense, but I don't need any help," I rejected the offer. "Nonsense, this is not just to help you, this is just to fulfill the duty of a Nobleman; helping the common folk is par for the course." "So, you think you know more than me about fighting?" "Absolutely, Noblemen are raised to become either great politicians or esteemed knights. So it's natural for men of Noble stature to be much further in combat skill." "I see." I don't think he means to look down on me, but he's edging real close to that attitude.

"Do you get it now, Nobles who have great power must give a hand those who are not in Nobility, thus, it is the reason why I'm offering to show you to wield your sword properly." He was finally finished with his speech. I think I know where he's coming from and he meant well, but he still sounded like an ass.

"*Sigh* Listen, thanks for the offer but I'm fine. You shouldn't underestimate me, a noble or not I'll beat anyone in a fight." A Noble or not, it never truly matters on the battlefield. Thinking that there is a difference is a mindset that can get most people killed. I just hope he doesn't fall for that trap. Wait, what am I doing, I'm supposed to find Caspar next.

"I have to go," I told Ferdinand as I moved past him into town. "Shirou." "Yeah?" "I hope that I can help you when you need it," he said with a determined tone to himself. "Sure." I left him to find Caspar deeper in town. The conversation with him was by no means terrific but it wasn't bad... Maybe just somewhat bearable.

**_Visit 4: Caspar_**

Before finding Ferdinand I had heard that Caspar could be found in town. I heard that he would be roughing it up with anyone who was itching to fight or was already fighting. And just as I was about to hit a circle, I found him. He was fighting some guy. Both of them were throwing punches at each other but the other kept pressing on. While Caspar's opponent had an okay build, he was dishing out some good hits. They were well placed and ultimately were heavy from where I was standing. In the end, he was able to knock the other guy out flat.

"OH YEAH!" He screamed to the heavens with a victory scream. His ear-shattering loud. He had turned around and noticed me.

"Shi... Um?" He seriously forgot my name, is it that hard to remember? "It's Shirou." "Oh yeah, sorry." Sorry, my ass. "What happened here," I asked him. "This guy? He was starting stuff with some other guys and after I dealt with them, I got onto him." I see he's battle-hungry as ever. "Glad you had fun, but I'm gonna need you to stop." "Huh, how come?" "The professor told me to tell you to stop instigating fights out in the town, or getting into them." "Come on, why am I getting in trouble for?" "I don't really care why I'm just here to tell you."

I tried to walk away as fast as I could but he stopped me by grabbing my collar. "Wait, I got an idea! If I beat you in a fight then I can continue fighting whenever I want. But if you win, then I'll stop fighting for today." That's a terrible reason to fight. Like, the day is almost over. "Screw that, I don't feel like it."

Even when I said he was charging at me. With no other choice, I redirected his trajectory making him miss his grapple. He recovered immediately and came at threw a few telegraphed punches and kept going even when I was blocking them. He kept rushing even when some of the hits weren't landing. I shouldn't play around with him, I need to get this over with as quickly as possible. So I broke his streak of consecutive punches and threw some of my own. Of course, these weren't the attack that was going to knock him down. I swept his leg when he went for a punch and I grabbed the back and front of his shirt. I slammed him down to the ground.

"How was that," I asked with a self-satisfied attitude. "That hurt, a lot, but man, that was amazing! One more round!" "Hell no!" "Why not, just one more round, this time I'll win!" "Go get bent, no!" "Another round!" He tried to fight me as I was dodging around his attacks. I was able to get away from him after a few minutes of running. If this experience taught me anything it was that he's a bigger pain in the ass to deal with outside of battle.

**_Visit 5:_** **Edelgard**

This was the last one on the list that I wanted to do. Two other ones said to meet Petra for a language lesson and Linhardt about his sleeping habits in class, but I decided to go against them since it wasn't my job to teach anyone nor do I want to correct someones sleeping habits (gotta get sleep where you can get it). Instead, I moved onto the last person on the list. It said to speak to Edelgard about Hubert's attitude towards the other students, especially the ones that talk to her. Can't say that he isn't creepy as hell a general percent of the time so having his devilish face sneering at someone could come off as rather threating to some. I found her sitting in the Black Eagles classroom by herself.

"Oi, Edelgard." "Shirou, what brings you here?" "Nothing much, the professor told me to talk to you about Hubert." "I know what you're going to say, and yes, I have talked to him about this but he just doesn't seem to listen. Honestly, he can be quite the headache some times." "I can see that."

I completed my job, I don't have to stay here. "Shirou, may I speak with you, I'd just like to ask you a question?" "Sure, but make it quick, I'm not trying to miss dinner."

I took a seat across from her. "I heard that you antagonized Catherine when we returned from the mission in the Gaspard territory. What happened?" "We just came to a disagreement, nothing major." "Was it about the people that were executed?" "Yeah." "I see... So you were disgusted by their actions as well." "As well?" "I, too don't agree with the punishment that the church gave out to the civilians of the fight. I understand that it would happen to Lord Lonato, but not to them, they did not deserve such an end."

Didn't think a Noble would be against the church's judgment. Then again, why would I think that?

"The church must've known that the soldiers that Lonato was using were just villagers that wanted to fight for their home but decided that they were guilty of doing so. Honestly, it's infuriating," Edelgard vented. "You were bothered by it?" "Is it such a surprise?" "Not really, you just seemed like you're detached from most situations." "Do I? Well, I'll admit that it's a rather ideal attitude for most leaders to have, but to hear someone say that, it's rather strange."

At least she's self-aware of it. She's kind of different from any other Noblewoman I've seen, for one she's not insufferable when she speaks, but rather holding a sort radiance of...well, more formally realistic.

"I'd like to pose a question: would you try to stop the execution," Edelgard questioned. "Huh?" "Would you try to stop the execution, even if it meant fighting against the church in its entirety, would you do it?" It was a hard question to answer. Looking at it logically, there would be no way for me to save them without me being killed; even if Thunder Catherine doesn't get in my way...

"Are you kidding me, I'm not suicidal. We all know if someone were crazy enough were to try that they would be killed and by the knight who has a magical sword nonetheless. So it would be nigh-impossible." "A thoughtful response. And I have to agree, it would be rather foolish. Thankfully it's only hypothetical." Though, if I'm found out then Garith and I will probably have to do so, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

"I'm also curious about something else Shirou. Why did you stop me from killing a bandit on our first mission?" "Do you really need an answer? He said he surrendered and gave up. What more of a reason is there to not spare him?" "But he had probably killed people." "Maybe, but I think those kills will catch up to him eventually." "You say that as if it's a fact." "I just believe in some sort of higher power." "The goddess?" "Nope, more like karmic justice." "Is that so? I think I can agree with such a concept."

Not much of a concept and more of a fact of life.

"Shirou, do you not like killing," Edelgard suddenly asked. "Nope, I don't like to complicate things when I fight, and killing folks would throw off my rhythm. Besides, why kill when you can knock the hell out of someone, eh?" "heh, you have a point, I suppose. I respect that type of idealism, and with that wooden sword, I'd say it could be possible."

This conversation was somewhat different from what I had about the wooden usually people just say that either insane or childish for using a wooden sword (though, she had the initial reaction when she learned I used a wooden sword in real fights).

"But may I ask you one last question," she requested." "Sure." "Do you not trust us when going into battle?" "What makes you say that?" "I only ask because you never seem to allow us to join you in a fight or you never join in on a joint plan with us; you would always go off by yourself. Do you think we would be a hindrance to you?" I didn't have an honest answer to her question. "Never mind that, I have to get going, you should probably leave as well if you want to get dinner."

She walked out of the room shortly after. Her question was on my mind like a wet wad of paper on the wall in my brain. As I was spacing out, I realized I still had a fish to eat.

"Crap, the fish!" I rolled out of the seat and made a mad dash for the cafe. That fish was way overdue, and I deserved a big piece for all the running around I did today...

Officer's academy, training, evening

Lysithea and I were undergoing her training, and to say the least, she's not doing so well. She tripped to the floor again, for the seventh time.

"Ow..." "Wow, you're slow, slower than any other mage I've ever seen before. Old men are faster than you." "Be quiet! You're moving too fast." "Not even, I'm going slow for you to keep up with." "Are you sure about that, because your movements are rather inconsistent with your statements." She has a point, I guess I'm not thinking much on this. I should probably take five.

"We're stopping for a bit." "But I can keep going." "Relax, there's only so many times you can land on your butt consistently," I openly joked. Her face had become flushed with red and she was covering her butt.

"W-what perverted reason is that!?" "What, it was a joke." Seriously, she takes things too seriously some times. She sat down a foot next to me.

"Why are you dazing off into space like that? Do you have better things to do because if so I could be doing plenty of other things as well." Still, as blunt I see. "No, I'm just thinking of something... Something Edelgard told me." "Edelgard... What did she tell you?" "Just that I rush off into battle by myself too much." "Is that true?" "Yeah, it is. I guess I'm prone to going off on my own, but I was just using my head when I did that." "You can do that?" I bit my lip to keep myself from responding to that.

"A-anyway, that's not the only thing on my mind. I was thinking about my classmates as well. They're all, in there own ways pretty weird or unbearable to know, so I'm wondering to myself why do I have to work with them." "That's rather condescending of you, but I understand where you're coming from, I think the same of my classmates. Some of them are normal while the rest are...questionable, and one, in particular, is annoying." Wonder who that is? "However, they're good people, so I can feel relaxed when in combat with them. Maybe the same could be said about your classmates?"

Hm... They aren't exactly bad people or anything, rather I think I just didn't try to get to know them, or something like that. Most of them are a bit weird but they're not bad people as I had said...

"Eh, I don't know what to think of them." I gave up on forming an opinion on them. There's no real point on care about making a habit of fighting with them anyhow after I complete the job here, I'll be on my way. But...

"...I'll help them fight but anything beyond that is out of my hands," I said out loud. "That sounds rather detached of you." "It is what it is, just like how you can't dodge to save your life." "Oh be quiet! As a matter of fact, can we continue with the session now?" "Yeah, sure." We went another round of her trying to dodge my attacks. As expected, she still got knocked down a lot, but even when that was the case, she was determined enough to get back up. Every time she did she would act suborn about not giving it a break, even when I asked her to take one. It almost reminded me of him... No, they're vastly different people, there's no way.

Outside of Garreg Mach, evening

I had snuck out of the academy and out to the forest outside of Garreg Mach. I was putting on my Mercenary gear which consisted of tools on the outside and the inside of the coat. Garith and I are going to go meet with someone; a client of sorts. This was the same mission that was sent to him a while back. It was sent by the same person that told us to come to Garreg Mach...

"Rock, you ready to go," Garith asked as he donned his mercenary equipment. "Yeah, I'm ready. As planned, let's stick to the forest." "Right, let's go then." We both put our hoods and began to journey for our destination.

* * *

**Catherine cheer!'**

**Shirou: Old man, I got to talk to...you.**

**Garith: Rock, what did you want to talk about?**

**Shirou: Um...that can wait.**

**Garith: What, what's the matter?**

**Shirou: Are you serious right now?**

**Garith: Kid, you're acting strange, what's wrong?**

**Shirou: I'm not the strange one here, I mean, what the hell are you even wearing!?**

**Garith: Oh, you mean the new uniform, yeah, isn't it amazing?**

**Shirou: Hell no, what the hell is it even suppose to be, is it a person!?**

**Garith: Not a person, but a fine woman... It's**

**Shirou: Ah, shit.**

**Garith: ...Catherine.**

**Shirou: Okay, now I want to know why it is?**

**Garith: Because we needed a representative for our bar.**

**Shirou: But why her!?**

**Garith: Why else? Because I can!**

**Shirou: Like hell you can, this is taking your obsession to the next level.**

**Garith: Nonsense, this is normal. You should also take a look at this.**

**Shirou: What the? Is this...?**

**Garith: That's right, Catherine embedded emblems on the cups.**

**Shirou: This is ridiculous, where did you even get these?**

**Garith: From a guy who's very much into Catherine himself. We network often about branding her name all over Fodlan.**

**Shirou: There would be tons of problems there, man!**

**Garith: Ah, don't worry about copyright, if anything, she's not even trademarked.**

**Shirou: What about copying her likeness? Won't that get us in some hot water?**

**Garith: Not a problem, we can always ask her for permission. But minor details.**

**Shirou: Why don't you ask her?**

**Garith: Anyway, this bar will now be a Catherine themed bar, and as such, we'll need Catherine to give us her seal of approval, so here. Give this letter to her to tell her about this bar.**

**Shirou: Hell no.**

**Garith: Wha- Hey, don't tear it apart, I put effort into that letter!**

**Shirou: This is getting out of hand, I want nothing to do with this**

**Garith: Come on, think of all the money the other fans would bring?**

**Shirou: She has those?**

**Garith: Hey, don't insult her, you brat!**

**Shirou: Whatcha gonna do about it?**

**Garith: This!**

**Shirou: Whoa, hey! Don't pick a fight!**

**Garith: I'll punish you for your insolence!**

**Shirou: Stop, you crazy bastard, hey!**

**It was at this moment that Catherine and some other knights had come into the bar as Shirou and Garith were fighting.**

**Catherine: Umm... Hi.**

**Garith: ...**

**Shirou: ...**

**Catherine: Hey, why are you guys quiet?**

**Shirou: Don't look at me, look at... Huh?**

**Garith: Here you all are.**

**Shirou: Holy shit, when did you pour all those drinks!?**

**Garith: Your drinks, my customers.**

**Shirou: whoa, his voice is more gentlemanly.**

**Catherine: Perfect, thanks for the service. Hm, are these emblems on the cup? Hold on, is this me?**

**Garith: Y-yeah.**

**Catherine: Amazing, these are pretty impressive barkeep.**

**Garith: ...**

**Catherine: Are you okay?**

**Shirou: Scruffy?**

**Garith fell to the floor with his heart being stopped in place.**

**Catherine: Hey, you okay, barkeep!?**

**Shirou: Garith, are you okay, say something! Garith!**

**For the rest of the night, Garith went to sleep with his eyes closed and his body holding its posture. After that day, the bar was named the Tavor of lightning Catherine. And as Garith predicted, it became a hot spot for other fans of Catherine to (herself including) to drink and to share stories about. This would go on to be a popular bar in Fodlan's history.**

* * *

**One last thing before I end this chapter, I know that it's a bit late but Happy new years anyway. I hope to publish more chapters for both my stories to make up for last year. Thank you for reading and I hope that you continue to support the story by either leaving a review or following it. So, until the next chapter; see ya.**


	8. Chapter 8

Adrestian Empire, evening

It's been about two hours since we left Garreg Mach. There was no one traveling alongside our path, just the two of us on this soulless road to whoever we're going to... That sounds so lame. We had crossed into a Noble's territory in the empire. It was a town that had several different shops with forges that blacksmiths use.

"Must be a lot of competition for Blacksmiths here," I said aloud. "Yeah, yeah, this place is known for holding a bunch of blacksmiths that work under one person; the owner of this land." "What do you mean?" "She's making a monopoly on selling master-crafted weapons to many different sources who are willing to share the profits. This would include several different mercenary groups, and soldiers for the capital of the empire and the Church's soldiers." "Sounds like this person is a rich man." "Try a rich girl. The client's name is **Maria Von Mauser**, she's the current head of the Mauser family. She's been running it for a couple of years now." "Ah."

In view was a castle. It was fairly big but nothing out of this world big, or anything I haven't seen before. Someone was waiting for us on the outside of the gate that leads into the castle.

"You must be the mercenaries," the mystery person said, their old age was made apparent when he spoke. "Yeah, we are. You here to lead us to Ms. Mauser," Garith asked. "Yes, please follow me." He had opened the gate to the castle. We followed right behind him into the castle.

Castle Mauser, evening

Walking through the halls of this castle, there were a lot of weapons hung up on the walls, each different in design. Most of them were foreign weapons that didn't originate from Fodlan.

"If you are curious, the Mauser family is a renowned family of blacksmiths. They were said to have aided the goddess **Seiros** when she fought against **Nemesis. **However, that was by crafting the finest weapons known to man. The weapons were Harold in as marvelous from the goddess herself."

Nemesis... Feel like I heard that name somewhere, but I can't remember. We ended up at a large double door. "My mistress awaits you in this room." Garith pushed open the door. It closed behind us when we entered...

"You came at such a late hour, do you not sleep?" A voice came from the center of the room. From the left couch. "Please, have a seat." We took a seat on the couch that was positioned on the right. We were able to get a good look at our client.

"Are you serious, is this a joke or something?" "Rock, just calm down for a second." "Who the hell is this kid?" "This child is none other than Maria Mauser, head of the Mauser family," Garith stated. Okay, this wasn't a joke.

"Seriously, this brat is the client, this is just too unbelievable," I asked Garith with my mind being unable to accept this. "I didn't know mercenaries come with obnoxious teenagers," she retorted. "What did you-" "Enough! I'm sorry about him, Ms. Mauser. Please, tell us why you hired us," Garith politely inquired. "At least there is one of you that knows of manners. But yes, I shall tell you why I have summoned you." She picked up the cup of tea from the table in front of us. She took a short sip from it.

"I'll get straight to the matter. Someone is trying to kill me." As she said, she didn't tip-toe around the matter. "Are you sure," Garith questioned. "I am quite sure. Just last week, someone tried to infiltrate my castle at the dead of night with a dagger in hand along the way. My security was able to catch him, but before we could get an answer out of him he had taken his own life."

Damn, sounds like the guy was scared of being imprisoned or worse. "But, the blade he had, its craftsmanship resembles that of our blacksmiths," she stated with a troubled look on her face that quickly disappeared. "You think one of your people want you dead," I asked her. "I can't say for certain, but yes, it's a possibility. That is why I had closed off my castle with a sensory tome." Those are rare to come by even in other countries. She must've paid a hefty fee to get it.

"...!" The tome in her lap began to glow. She opened it up to reveal the layout of the castle. "It seems like more assassins are coming, they're coming from the first floor!" I got up from the couch and took out my sword. "Garith, take care of the kid, I'll handle the assassins." "Got it, don't get killed." I pushed open the door and made my way to the assassins.

...

It had been a minute since Rock left, I was waiting for something to happen, my hands were gripping the handle of my sword tightly. Looking at Ms. Mauser, she was putting up a brave face, there was no concern shown on her face.

"Are you okay Ms. Mauser," I asked her. "Of course I am, do you think a mere assassination attempt would frighten me? As long as you do what you're paid to do I have no reason to be scared." "I see. You really are a brave woman." "Thank you, but please save the flattery for later."

She was rather logical and sophisticated for her age. In all honesty, I was just as surprised as Rock when I saw her, but a guy needs some professionalism when he's on the job, right? I looked at the sensory tome in her hand. It showed where we were along with Rock and the other assassins. However, there was something else coming at us, but it was from the outside of the mansion. It was coming at us from the air, and it was flying straight towards us at break-neck speeds.

"Something is coming, and fast!" I moved on top of the table and jumped at Mauser. I positioned us between the couch before the thing came at us. There was a loud crash when the thing came crashing in, the couch was luckily enough to keep us safe. I looked from behind and saw a spear stuck in the floor. Red energy was wrapped around it.

"Ms. Mauser, are you okay?" Her eyes were shut. The impact must've knocked her out. I noticed that someone came in through the blow open wall. The person in question came in picked up the spear from the ground.

"Show yourself from behind the couch!" I was going to stay quiet until he left but I guess it wasn't gonna work. I put down Mauser and got up from the floor.

"Ah, a masked man. Are you an assassin as well?" "No, just a bodyguard." I took out my sword and got into a stance. "Well then, bodyguard, how about we go a few rounds." He got into a stance as well. As I was about to make my first move, the door came flying open interrupting us.

"Garith, you okay, I heard something loud coming from here!?" "Another one? This won't do at all!" The spearmen went out through the blown open wall.

"Rock, that was an assassin, go after him!" "Okay, I'll be back!"

...

I had jumped out of the open space and onto the rooftop. It was a smooth landing and it was easy to stand on, however, if I were to fall nothing was keeping me from hitting the ground.

"HIYA!" I heard someone from behind. I blocked with my sword just in the nick of time. The attack was strong enough to push me back a bit. The spearman swung his spear around, trying to land a hit, and I was on the defensive, blocking each one of them. He then did an expected unexpected by breaking my guard. His spear soon after aimed for my chest. I kicked it up to have it avoid hitting me. It had broken a piece of my mask and sliced the side of my forehead. I backed away to catch my breath.

"Damn, I thought that strike would do," the spearmen vented his frustration. "Sorry, but you ain't killing me so easily." "Don't be too sure of that one, bodyguard!" He charged at me with his spear in front of himself. I moved out of the way but he reacted to it accordingly by making another attack. I was able to block it but he took advantage of that by making an opening with it and trying to strike at me. Avoiding it was a challenge since it was so close and I had little leeway to avoid it.

"You're still alive bodyguard? Very impressive." "Not so shabby yourself, assassin." More than shabby, he was pretty damn good. He's taking the fight by a mile. Typically, I don't have a problem fighting spearmen, but he was different in the sense that he knew how to work with his spear to workaround the close range disadvantage. I was going to need to fight a tad bit dirty. I took out two round balls from one of my pockets. I threw them at him, he reacted by slicing them mid-air. "Smoke!?" He was taken by surprise by my little gadget. Smoke surrounded him and I ran into it when it did.

"Show yourself! He sliced in the front to clear it up but it was denser than that. I quickly moved behind him to strike his shoulder. I heard a crunching sound as my sword made contact with his shoulder.

"Gah!" He swung his spear with his right arm. I backed away without any damage. "Damn, broke my shoulder!" "Surprised you can swing that thing with one hand, but even if you can you're still going to lose here. So what do you say, wanna retreat?" My suggestion seemed to have only pissed him off. "Is that so, you think I'll be the one to fall here? In that case..." He repositioned his spear and stance into a throwing stance. His spear began to give off a different vibe. It was being surrounded by a red and black aura. Is that a magically induced spear!?

"...Who do you think will be defeated now?" I was readying myself for his spear. The anticipation was killing me, what would the impact be like? Would my strength be enough to stop it, can I even stop it? The tension was building up for me as he was just standing still, arching that spear above his shoulder. However, that tension was killed when he just stopped pumping mana in his spear...

"No, this isn't the time for that, I guess I do have to retreat," I heard him mutter. "We'll settle this another time, bodyguard!" He jumped off from the roof. I rushed over to where he jumped from. He was gone...

"Rock, did you get him!?"Garith came out into view out from the giant hole in the wall. I put my sword away and gave him a no gesture. " Damn, well, whatever, just get up here. We're leaving!" That's sudden. Did he get scared by the assassin? Whatever the case, it doesn't matter. I climbed back up to the room. Garith was carrying the little girl on his back.

"Hey, what are you..." "Rock, change of plans, we're taking her with us." "But-" "No time to waste, let's go before more assassins come!" Garith left the room in a hurry. I didn't get the chance to take in what just happened. All I could do now was follow his lead...

Garreg Mach, Garith's bar, morning

I was sitting on a stool in the bar. I was a bit tired from the lack of sleep I got, but I could still go for a bit longer. Garith popped out from the back.

"So, how is our sleeping beauty?" "She's fine, she'll probably be asleep for a bit longer." "I see. Now I have a question: why did we take her with us?" He just rubbed his head as he poured himself a drink. "...Well, I just acted on instinct." "And that would be?" "The one that told me more assassins were coming for her life. It was obvious that they could storm her castle with no problem. The only way to fend her from them is to get the knights involved, and you know that's not gonna end well for us. So, I thought of taking her with us. We can defend her here, plus, they don't know where she's at."

He has a point, we were careful of anyone tailing us. We also stuck to the forest as much as we possibly could. And there's the fact we're out of gear, so we don't need to worry about them finding us for a good while. But, the other question in my mind remained.

"What are we going to do with her?" "I'll watch over her until she wakes up. We'll have to work that out when she does. So until then, just go back to the academy and act like you didn't do anything interesting last night," he told me. A roundabout way of putting it. "Alright then, I guess I'll forget about fighting off an assassin last night then. But in all seriousness, I'll come back here when I can." "Okay, I'll be waiting." I opened the door out of the bar. "Hey, what about that head wound on your forehead," Garith asked me. I touched the slice wound on my head. That spearman was able to leave a mark in our fight.

"Don't worry, it's fine, doesn't hurt." "Want me to patch it up?" "Nah, it'll only be suspicious. Besides, it'll heal on its own..."

I closed the door to the bar. Walking through the soon to be awoken town, I was recapping what had happened thus far in my mind. The assassins I fought were well equipped, especially that spearman. He used a type of magical weapon I'm not familiar with; its destructive power was beyond anything a sword, bow, or spear has ever shown. Plus, it wasn't explosive magic or electrical magic from what I can tell. It needed to be something else. Maybe I should see someone about it. The question was who...? Wait, I think I know who would be willing to help; well, she's the only one who I know that'll help me.

Officer's academy, afternoon

It took a while due to how long her classes take, but with patience and a bit of stealth, morning classes ended. I went up to my magical expert. "Oi, Ly," I called her but she ignored me, she was burying her head in her classroom. "Lysithea, hey, can you hear me?" She was either ignoring me or she had some sort of super hyper-focus that can't be beaten.

"Trying to get her attention?" "Yeah." "No worries, I got you." Someone went up behind her and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was, she jumped up from her seat. "What, stay away from me you... Oh, it's just you two," she said without any effort of hiding her disappointment. "Geez, friendly way of saying hello," I replied. "What do you two want? Do you know each other now," she asked. "No, just met this guy when he was trying to get your attention," the student beside me said. Now that I take a look at him he was differently dressed from the other students and me. He had a dark complexion to him. He was also nearly taller than me (nearly).

"That's a fairly odd way to meet," she commented. "It is, but who says its a bad thing. And besides, I'm quite interested in the guy that was able to match professor Byleth." "So my reputation proceeds me?" "Perhaps." He extended his hand. "But I forgot my manners. My name is **Claude Von Riegan**." "Shirou." So this was Claude? I heard a bit about him, not much but from what I heard he was known to be a trickster. Among that, he was said to be an apparent heir to the Riegan household, and I say apparently due to the fact he was introduced as the heir out of nowhere...

"Tell me, what is it like to fight the professor?" "Um, it was okay, I guess." "Really?" "Sorry, I just didn't think much on it, I just fought." "I see, that's a shame, I thought I could get some info about a weakness." A weakness? Why would he want to know that?

"But you know what, that's not important, what is important is that you come out of nowhere and can match the professor in combat. What's even more strange is that you did indeed come out of nowhere. You don't seem to have any Noble background to speak of." "What does it matter," I asked him. "That would matter since you would need to either raise your funds to get into the academy or for a Noble to pay for your admission. But if either one is true, then I have to question why?" "Why what?" "Why do you want to be here? You have a reputation to skip lectures and to go to sleep during classes from what I heard from the other Black Eagle students. Plus, it seems like you don't care to be here. So, what's the reason you're here?"

I didn't know how to respond to his question. I was trapped by his reasoning and that scared me.

"Oh, knock it off Claude," Lysithea demanded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. But I was just messing around, but a tad bit curious. It really doesn't matter why he came to the academy, his reasons are his alone, so I won't pry into them. Anyway, I have more pressing matters to attend to. It was nice meeting you, by the way. I do hope we can become good acquaintances." He exited the classroom as he made a two-fingered salute. That guy, no, Claude is too analytical for his own good. He nearly saw right through me, and I doubt he was doing it all in good fun. He's dangerous...

"Ignore him, he just likes to rattle people up like that," Ly told me. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to take that in mind." "Good. But on to other matters - why are you here?" Makes it sound like I can't see her without a reason. Although since I do that makes my little comment null and void.

"I need you-" "Hey, you have a cut on your forehead. How did you get that?" "This? I got cut while I was in the forest." "What were you doing there? Actually, nevermind that, sit down." As she instructed, I sat next to her. "This will only take a second." She placed her hand on my forehead. I moved back a bit. "Easy, I'm not going to hurt you." "It's fine, it doesn't even hurt." "Did you disinfect it?" I...didn't get around to doing that. "No, but-" "But nothing, you'll get an infection from this if you don't, and you might not know what that means." "I'll get sick and die." "Exactly, and that wouldn't be a good thing now, would it? So just hold still." She began to heal my forehead. In a mere matter of seconds, she got done with it.

"Done. See, wasn't that fast?" "I guess." "You know, you can be quite difficult sometimes, and over simple matters too," Ly pointed out with her arms crossed. "I can say the same to you." "Not true." "Sure, whatever you say. But away from that, I need to ask you a question." "Oh, what is it?" "Can magic be used on weapons?" She seemed a bit puzzled by my question. "You'll have to be specific?" "I mean, can magic be used to affect the destructive capabilities of a weapon?" "As in enhancing it? Not to my knowledge, no. There is no clear cut way to enhance the capabilities of a weapon like there isn't for a person." "So alchemy has its limits?" "Indeed, it is sad but that's the reality of it," she said with a melodramatic tone. Then what the hell was his spear using? It was magic, that much I can tell but it doesn't explain it.

"What's with this line of question anyway? Are you thinking of making that wooden sword stronger?" "No, this thing is fine the way it is. I was just trying to catch up on some stuff I missed in class." Speaking of class, I winder if Byleth is angry that I skipped out? Nah, he's too chill to even care.

"You know Shirou, I do have to wonder why you even bother going at all? You don't even care about your classes. What's the point of being here if you don't care?" "Well... I made a promise to do this whole academy life thing. If I didn't I would be..." I'd be back on the road again, tackling any job that came my way...

"...You know what, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about why I'm here. I'm here because I am." I got up from the seat. "By the way, thanks for healing my forehead." "Not a problem. Just take better care of yourself, it would be bad if you got careless and do irreparable damage to yourself." Too late for that type of warning. "I'll try not to." And with that lackluster response, I left the golden classroom. It's been a couple of hours since I was at Garith's, maybe now would be a good time to see if the kid woke up. Along the way there I made sure to avoid Byleth. I wouldn't want to get a lecture on my attendance if possible...

...

In some unknown part of the empire, the lance assassin from the night when Shirou and Garith went to the Mauser castle was getting in contact with his employer.

"Did you kill the head Mauser?" "No, she was protected by capable bodyguards and as a result, I couldn't kill her." "That's the second time now! How can you be thwarted twice!? Do I need to go to someone more qualified?" "Relax, I know I failed, but it comes with its ups." "Really, what would be these 'ups'?" "The fact she's no longer being guarded in her castle. I know for a fact that she's being protected by the men that stopped my assassination attempt that night." "Meaning?" "If I can find them then I'll find the girl, and when I do that I'll eliminate her with one swift strike." "I see. Fine them, I'll give you another shot, however, if you fail again I'll have someone else do this task." "Don't worry, this time, I'll definitely hit my mark, and I won't let it slip through my fingers."

The employer had left with a not so pleased expression on his face. He was unsure if the assassin and his band were even able to fulfill the task. Nonetheless, f he were to successfully kill Maria Mauser then his goals would be furthered. Meanwhile, the lance assassin was thinking to himself about the bodyguard (Shirou) that he fought last night. He was analyzing all his moves in his head. He had especially taken note if his stance during that fight. It was far too familiar to him.

"The pressure I felt from him was like back then... If what I think is correct, then it must be him..." His thought of knowing who it was behind the mask was making him giddy. He couldn't believe who it was behind the mask. "Three long years since then... What a stroke of luck!"

He took his spear and went towards where Mauser was and to where his masked mystery man was; Garreg Mach. He was excited to see if his assumption of who was under that mask was correct...


	9. Chapter 9

Garreg Mach, Garith's bar, afternoon

Opening the bar door, I immediately noticed that Garith was serving a drink to someone. It was the Mauser girl. "This tea is quite delightful," she complimented. "Thank you. I was always told my blends were pretty good." It's so weird how he's able to act like the perfect gentlemen in one instance, but an idiot in the next when with me. "Um, Garith," I called to drag his attention to me. "Rock, good, you're here." "If it isn't the rude Mercenary." "That's not my name!"

I took a seat at the table that the kid was sitting at. "So, what happens now." "Now, you'll both bring me back to my castle," Marie said. "No way, we can't take you back there. Who knows what assassins are waiting for you there." "That's a risk I'll have to take. I will not allow assassins to scare me out of my own castle." She had guts, for the most part, I'll give her that, but it's not smart of her.

"Listen, just stay here for a bit while I investigate to see if the mansion is okay to be at. If it proves fruitful then we'll escort you back there. Deal?" She took a long sip of her tea. Savoring the flavor. "Fine, I shall wait for you to come back with results. However, do note that if you fail to meet the standard in a manner of seven-two hours I shall head back wheater you like me to or not. Is this understood?" She snobbishly asked. "Yes, this is understood. I'll make sure to get it done by today." Garith stated that as if he was leaving to...

"Wait, you're going back there," I asked him. "Yeah, I need to investigate over there, take a look at the assassins they captured last night and see if it's safe to be there. In the meantime, someone needs to keep an eye on her." Wait, who would he be referring to... Oh Kami, why the hell am I trying to figure out an answer that I already know? Garith went for the door with a full black coat on. I grabbed him.

"Wait, you can't leave me with her." "Why not?" "Because I'll go insane dealing with her, I can feel it!" He planted a hand behind me. "Rock, look behind you." I did as he asked. I heard the door to the bar open and close at the same time.

"That son of a..." I opened the door to find Garith running at full speed. "GARITH, YOU BASTARRRRRD!" The utter nerve, the betrayal!" I went back inside the bar after a second or two to catch myself. It was awkward since Maria was staring holes into my eyes.

"So... Yeah." "I am to be left alone with you? How depressing, " she lamented. "Ditto, " I replied. I took a seat on another table. The bar was silent, the kid nor I would speak a word to each other. It then that she got up and went for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" "Isn't it obvious, I am bored, so I am going out to see what venues are out in Garreg Mach." I rushed over to the door and blocked it. "Sorry, but I can't let you." "And why not?" "Because it's dangerous. What if some assassin knows you're here?" "Then you'd best protect me, mr. bodyguard. Or perhaps you wish to cook me something?"

That's a no go on that front. I had a feeling that she'll become annoying if she doesn't get her way. But at the same time, I can't let her just leave. What to do, what to do...? Oh, I got it!

"Okay, you familiar a coin toss?

...

" This way manservant, time waits for no one." By chance, I lost the toss to heads. I knew I should've used my double-tailed sided coin, but I thought hey, why not give her a fair shot. That was my biggest mistake.

"Chop, chop, I'd like to get through the shops in a fashionable manner." "Yeah, I get you." We walked down a busy alleyway that sported all types of stands that are in front of a kitchen. "Oh my, let's try that one, " Maria said, exhibiting excitement. "Hello, what can I get for you two?" "What assortment of delights do you sell here?" "Delights?" "What food do you sell here, " I translated. "Oh! Right then. We sell the hottest food around Fodlan." "The hottest you say?" "The very finest." "In that case, give us the hottest bowl you have." "Coming right up!" Huh, who would've thought that the little princess likes spicy things? Go figure. The guy came back with a dish. It had meat that was cut into pieces and steam foaming upward. There was a sauce that was placed on all the slices very elegantly; it made it look even better.

"Oh my, you look like a hungry dog. Do you want this?" "Don't compare this to a dog wanting food. Compare it to a man with refined taste wanting to eat something damn near perfect!" She picked up the plate and gave it to me. "Then you may eat, manservant." "Thanks for the meal." I downed the meat in one serving. The quality was exquisite and the sauce only elevated it.

"Oh man, oh man, this is good!" I swallowed the last of the meat, savoring the finishing touches of it.

"Damn, that was truly the best." "Hmm..." "What, what is it?" "Nothing, I just happened to recall ordering the best spicy dish you this place has." "That was it. I like to call it **Studdering hot flames of disaster!" **That's mouth full. "How does it work? Surely with a name like that, there's bound to be something special about it," Maria asked. "That's simple, the sauce put on the meat is actually a special brand of sauce. It takes a bit of time, but when it kicks in, you'll feel it." "Ha, I feel nothin-" Suddenly, my throat started to become hot, extremely hot; like there was a fire going on in there.

"AAAAHHHH! What the hell is this!? It's so hot!" I've been slashed, shot, and even stabbed. But those pale in comparison to this. "It's the **Studdering hot flames of disaster!" **THAT'S A MOUTH FULL! "Oh my, this is certainly most entertaining," Maria said with a snarky tone and smug look on her face. Garth always told me never to hit ladies, but he never told me not to bite them.

...

"That was surely one of the funniest things I've bared witness to." "Shut up, that hurt like hell!" "And here I thought that you were a mercenary. Reality can be disappointing." "I'll bite that head off." "How vulgar, it's a miracle that you can function as a human being with thoughts like that in your head." I'm gonna do it, I swear! Just when I thought about doing it, I saw someone I knew in an alleyway...

"What is the matter, eyes forward." "In a minute..." I went into the alleyway to find some punks harassing some poor sap. Wait, it's Ashe! "Hey kid, do you know who we are," one of the punks asked him. "I don't, but it doesn't mean you can hurt people!" "Mind your business, kid. As a matter of fact, maybe we should teach you a lesson on manners." "Nah, I think I should be teaching you a lesson," I chimed in with my hands in my pocket. "Who the hell are you?" "You want some of this as well," the thugs threatened. "Oh trust me, guys." I stabbed my sword through a wall to show them a gap in power.

"You don't want any of this," I told them in a deep tone. "O-oh crap!" "Run!" As they said, they turned tail and fleed. "That was easy," I told myself. "That was hardly any fun," Maria commented with a disappointment. "I wasn't doing it for fun. Besides, it wouldn't even be a challenge." I put away my sword and went to Ashe. "Are you okay." "Yes, I'm fine Shirou, thank you for the assistance." "You should really watch who you mess with, next time you might not be as lucky." "You're right, I should be more careful, but-" "Save it, I think I get what was going on. You were helping someone from them, right?" "Exactly."

Kids got a good heart, but he needs strength to back it up.

"Um, Shirou?" "What's up?" "Who is that behind you?" "Her? She's-" "I am Maria Von Mauser, it is a pleasure." That idiot, why the hell is she spouting her name like that!? "Oh, Maria. It is nice to meet you, I'm Ashe. Is Shirou your big brother?" "Do not speak to me in such a manner akin to a child, and no, he is not." Ashe was surprised by her bite back. Can't blame him, it is something else entirely.

"Oh, um, sorry," Ashe apologized. "Don't listen to her, she's just a brat." "What did you just call me?" "Oh, I'm sorry, my manners. Ms. Maria Von Mauser is known to be quite the term named a brat. Was that better?" "The arrogance." "Right back at you."

While the two of us were yelling at each other, Ashe was just laughing it up on the side. Noticing this, I felt pretty embarrassed. "Whatever, let's get going, I don't want to waste time around here anymore," I said aloud.

"Yo Ashe, we're going to get going now. I'll see you around." "Wait, can I join you? I actually need help with a favor that the cooks at the academy asked me to help them with." "Sounds like a pain... But I got nothing better to do, so why not." "Thank you, you won't regret this."

...

We spent the rest of our time going around town, collecting what the cooks needed. Most of this stuff was heavy as all hell, not to mention that it was coming out of my pocket as well as Ashes'.

"All right, this should be about everything we need. Thank you again for helping me Shirou." "It's not a big deal. But besides that, how are you holding up?" "I've been fine, I have been training hard ever since our last mission together." "That's good, but I was talking about..." "Oh...Lonato. Well, I can't say I'm over it yet, but I continue to strive towards my goal. Truth be told though, I don't think I would've been able to make it there if you didn't help me back then, I don't think I would've been on the same path as I am now." "I mean, I had no choice really. You were crying and stuff, I would've felt like an ass if I left you be."

I was a bit worried about him after that night. I would check up on him from time to time to see how he was doing. During my checkups, I couldn't tell if he was doing okay or was bottling up his feelings. However, it seems like I was worried about nothing. "Oh, that reminds me. I told my house leader and everyone else in the Blue Lions about you what you did for me. They asked if I could bring you around to them sometime." Blue lion leader would be Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, the next King of the Kingdom.

"I don't know, we-" "We would be delighted to meet him," Maria answered for me. "You little- I didn't agree!" "Fantastic, let us get going," Cheerfully said. "Why are you guys ignoring me!?" Ugh, whatever, I might as well roll with it, the princess will complain if I don't.

Officer's academy, afternoon

Ashe, Maria and I made our way over to the Blue lion house after giving the cooks the stuff they ordered. We were able to get Maria in by sneaking her in. If anyone asks, she wanted to see the Academy and I just happened to be kind enough to help fulfill her wish. I shouldn't get in trouble for that, right?

"He's in there, are you ready Shirou," Ashe asked. "Sure, I guess." "Act like you at least have some dignity, " Maria told me. "Shut it, half-pint." "Why, the nerve!" "Hey, stop that! That hurts!" Maria was hitting me with her small fists. Despite how it seems, I could feel the hits. We both tripped onto the ground.

"Ow, my ass." "That looked like it hurt, are you all right?" Someone offered their hand to me. He had blond hair and was wearing a blue cape. Knowing what style of uniform that is.

"Are you hurt," the blondie asked. He took Maria's hand and picked her up. Hey, what about me, she's the one who tripped me up!

"Shirou, are you okay, " Ashe asked me. What a good kid. "I'm fine, just surprised that a kid knocked me down like that." "I'm just glad you aren't hurt at all." He's a good boy!

"Excuse me, but would you happen to be the one Ashe spoke about? I ask because you fit his description. You also have a wooden sword in your belt." I patted myself off and fixed my hair in a quick second. "Yeah, I happen to be him. My name is Shirou by the way." How was that loli heiress?

"I rate the introduction of a 4/10." It was like she read my mind, and what the hell is with that score?

"Amazing, so there really is a student that fights with only a wooden sword! You have to demonstrate how you fight with it." His excitement was like a kids'. It was kind of contagious. But as much as he wanted to see me fight, I don't really want to fight to entertain people (plus, I don't want the Kingdom to be hunting my ass if I hurt the prince too badly).

"I'm sorry, but..." "No, if you anyone is going to fight him, then let it be me." Another student who was sitting at one of the desks came over to us. His expression was cold, threatening, and aloof. But more importantly, the key fact was that he didn't hide his desire to fight.

"Sorry, but I don't feel like fighting," I said as clearly as possible. "So what, you don't intend to prove your skill with that sword," Slint eyes asked. "I don't have to prove anything to anyone." "Is that so? Then could I say your fight against Professor Byleth was a fluke?" This guy is seriously annoying. I mean, what's his deal?

"Listen, you don't want to fight me, trust me." "But I think I do, wooden swordsman. Besides, it's not like you'll fight anyway, right?" His attitude was getting real annoying, real fast. "...You know what? I think I've reconsidered my answer." "What's for the change of heart," Slint questioned with a condescending tone. "Someone needs to teach a brat a lesson, I guess it'll be up to me..."

The training ground, afternoon

The challenger and I were standing in the training ground. The others were watching from the sidelines.

"You still wanna do this? If you're scared I can let you go, kid," I mockingly offered. "No need, I'll have this over in a moment," Slint declared. "Got guts, I'll give that much."

As I was about to draw my sword, Maria called me over. "What is it?" "Shirou, might I make a suggestion?" "That would be?" "Beat him in one swing." "Why?" "It'll much more crushing to him if you show there's a gap in power." Pretty sure if I put everything into one swing I'll kill him. But touching him with one strike from me could be a pretty good thing since I'd be able to get this over with quicker.

"Are you ready? I don't want to stall any longer." "Yeah, I'm ready." I got back into position with my sword back into my belt.

"This is going to be a one-strike match," Slint eyes said. "Now, draw your sword and let's begin." "Nah, don't feel like it." "Even if you won't draw, I'll still strike you down!"

He came at me with his sword in a lowered position. His first slash was fast but straightforward. In fact, most of his attacks were pretty boring; I could dodge them in my sleep.

"Hold still," he demanded. "Where's the fun in that? Come on, work harder." He tried swinging faster but it didn't help much, his attack pattern was easy to read and to maneuver. After a while, he began to grow tired from swinging his sword and chasing after me.

"What's the matter, can't keep up," I taunted. "Don't speak as if you have bested me, you coward." "Name-calling, my favorite. A little pro-bono tip though."

Slint eyes came charging at me, losing any type of patience he had in the process. "You shouldn't look down on all cowards." He made a downward slash attack at me. I sidestepped it and I pressed my foot on it, to keep it to the ground. "What the..." I drew my sword and put the point to his neck.

"...Especially the cowards that are five steps ahead of you." I put away my sword and walked towards Maria.

"Entertaining enough for you," I asked her. "A stellar performance is what I rate." It sounds like she had an excellent time. "That was truly amazing, your movement was fantastic, and that sword pin was amazing, " Dimitri complimented with child-like wonder in his eyes. Slint eyes came over to us. Thinking he was the type to be prideful in his sword skills, I thought he was going to tell me it was a fluke.

"You," he uttered out. "Yeah?" "That was a splendid technique you pulled there." Surprised wouldn't cover how I felt. I had no idea that he would even try to compliment me Although, it sounded like he was hesitant on complimenting me.

"Oh, um, thanks." "However, I won't be losing the next round!" "Next round, yeah, can't wait," I said in a low toned voice. "In that case, draw your blade now!" Oh shit, he wants to do it now!? "I would like to fight as well," Dimitri exclaimed joy as he picked up a wooden staff. "Guys, come on. Why don't we..." The words didn't come out when I realized the looks in their eyes. It was pure excitement to fight. There was no way I could talk my way out of this. Only one thing to do really.

"Okay, fine, but before we begin, I have to say something..." I point over at the left side corner. "IT'S A GODDAMN GHOST!" Ashe's skin turned pale as he let out an inaudible yell. Slint eyes and Dimitri turned over to the corner. While they were distracted I picked up Maria and booked it.

"Gah, he's getting away," Slint announced. "Put me down, you imbecile," Maria said with a more than embarrassed voice. "Thanks for the match, stay cool you guys!" They chased after us for a while around the academy. To be honest, this was one of the hardest get-aways in all of my career as a merc.

Garreg Mach, evening

We were in the middle of town. The liveliness of it was beginning to die down since night time was coming. My legs were killing me, my lungs were on fire.

"Finally...got away..." Talking was probably not the best idea right now since I was trying to take in as much air as possible.

"Put me down, you fool," Maria demanded while insulting me along the way. "Chill out, I'm putting you down." I placed her down on her feet carefully. "What in the ever living hell were you thinking when you pulled that stunt?" "I was thinking that I didn't want to fight those two and that we should probably escape." "Thanks to your train of thought my brain is running amuck."

Well sorry, princess, but how else could I get away from them? Whatever, I guess I should just apologize.

"You're right, I'm an idiot, I'm sorry." "I wouldn't name you an idiot, but that will suffice." She took a seat next to me.

"So, how was your day out," I asked. "It was rather random. I originally wanted to see all the venues that were here and buy anything that caught my eye. That clearly didn't happen." "Ah, shame." "But, that doesn't mean that it was bad. True, it was random, but I think the entertainment came out of that, and that was also contributed by you. For instance, the hot food you ate earlier this afternoon. It was something unexpected and random that it was surprising to me." "I see." "Plus, your face was hilarious." "I'll bite you!"

Maria laughed to herself after the biting her comment. It was one the artificial chuckles she usually does, it was real.

"So this is how everyday life is...? It truly is nice." Right, I guess she doesn't get to experience acting like a normal person every day. Actually, what is her life like?

"What do you do all day in your territory all day," I asked. "I work, I manage my territory and seek out new potential distributors for our weapons, and many other things." "Ah. Is any of that hard?" "Of course, there's too much work to the point where I go days without sleep." "Then we have something in common. I go some days without any sleep too. Though, I guess I work on my own hours, so it's incomparable to your work. In that regard, you're pretty amazing."

Her cheek was flushed, she stared down at the ground. "I-it's no deal, I'm a Mauser, of course, I am capable. However, to tell the truth, I did have help, from my uncle." "Your uncle, why just him?" "Because he's the only one who can... My parents are no longer with me." I guess as much, seeing how young she is, there would be no way she could be the head of the family unless something happened to her folks.

"At the time, we were coming from our vacation home. We were traveling by carriage on a quiet country road. I was sleeping on my mother's lap since it was so late at night. Suddenly, the carriage was stopped. After a while, some bandits dragged my parents out of the carriage without me; they didn't know I was in there. I was frightened beyond belief and I couldn't move a muscle to see out of the windows. After a while of silence, my parents screams finally filled it..." "..." "...That night, my parents were murdered by common low-lives. Their cold dead bodies were laying on the road as if they meant nothing, and all I could do was stay by them in a pool of their own blood..."

Her voice was filled with sorrow, but her face was not one that was on the verge of tears. But you don't need to cry to be filled with pain. Even in this country, people still keep on spilling each other's blood. And the children are the ones to live through it all.

"You... Hm." There was something I wanted to say, but my train of thought was interrupted when I noticed that someone was watching us.

"Maria, get behind me." "What?" "Just do it," I yelled. She got behind me. "Come on out, your hiding is for jack-shit." The people in hiding came out like rats from a hole in a wall. There were five of them in total, all of them carrying swords and axes.

"You guys assassins," I asked them. "Yeah, we are. We're only here for the girl, so just leave her to us and we'll-" I threw my sword at the guy talking. It had bounced off his head after connecting. With my speed, I was able to catch it in time and was able to swiftly deal with the four other assassins.

"That should take care of those guys, but that's not the last of them." There were more of them, and they were coming from behind the bench. "Shit, Maria get away from the bench." I ran straight past Maria and drop kicked the assassin in the face, flying over the bench altogether. I saw another assassin going for her while I was in mid-air. The moment I landed on the tip of my toes, I dashed off and knocked him out with one attack. More were coming out from behind us and the rooftops with bows. This isn't good, we need to run. Before we could though, the archers shot their arrows. I deflected them with ease but they were firing too many to the point where they might outdo me. At this rate, I'll just get killed, or worse...

"Dead spike!" A bunch of black spikes hit the rooftops, hitting most of the archers. "Hurry up, before they start firing again!" Going on what the voice said, I took Maria's hand and started running. When we reached the corner I saw that the person who helped us was none other than Lysithea.

"Why are you here? Actually, how did you find us," I asked her with my curiosity peaking to eleven. "I saw you run out of the academy with her on your back. I wanted to talk to you about something. However, this is hardly the time to talk, we have to go." She had a point, screwing around here was not a good idea.

"All right then, let's go. Stick close to me." We ran through Garrge Mach. I was thinking about where to take Maria. Garith's bar is a no go, they can break in there with no problem at all. The officer's academy was our best bet, the dorms were the best spot to hide someone. Plus, nobody is crazy enough to break in there with knights like Catherine guarding it. On our way there, we had to stick to the shadows since assassins were searching for us on the rooftops and the streets.

"Nice assist earlier, Ly," I thanks her. "No thanks needed, but an explanation is definitely needed." Well, that's no good. I can't just tell her that I'm a hired merc that is protecting a weapons manufacturer, and she'll clearly won't take anything that isn't an explanation.

"They're after me," Maria spouted off. "Why you," Ly asked. "Because I'm..." "It doesn't matter, we need to keep running, or else they'll catch up!" Maria already said enough, I can't have her revealing too much. We were about to reach the Academy, however, we were surprised attacked when an archer came in front of us and shot an arrow directly at Maria. I couldn't block it in time with my sword, so I used my body as a shield. It had hit my right arm.

"Tch!" "Shirou," Lysithea reacted to my injury with shock, and soon after with shooting magic at the archer. "All right, let me see your..." Ly stopped her sentence and directed her hand behind me. There were swordsmen behind us. I can't fight while protecting Maria. "Ly, stick right here and protect Maria." "You can't fight with an arrow in your arm!" "I fought with much, much worse." I effortlessly took the arrow out. It stung but it was ignorable.

"Okay, here I go!" Focusing on two weak spots on the swordsmen I hit the back of both their necks, instantly knocking them out. More came out of the woodworks, so I dealt with them as quickly as possible. They weren't particularly tough, rather they were just annoying. There was seemingly no end in sight, and the arrival of an assassin who was bigger in size due to bulk made it seem like the fight was going to drag itself out a little longer.

"Just give us the girl kid, and we'll let you go free," the big guy told me. "Sorry, but that's a hard pass." "In that case, I'll just have to pound you as hard as I ca-" Something stabbed straight through him. A spear. The person using it ripped it out of him and pushed him aside. It was the spearman that attacked Maria's castle.

"Took me a bit time to find you, but I indeed did find you, miss Mauser and mr. bodyguard..."

* * *

**Excluded from cannon**

**Lysithea: Shirou, are you here, I need to tell you something.**

**Shirou: That you got into FE heroes? **

**Lysithea: Yes, how did you know?**

**Shirou: I saw some announcements about your arrival on it on R***it **

**Lysithea: I see. Why do you sound upset?**

**Shirou: What, no, don't be ridiculous.**

**Lysithea: What's the matter, why are you upset?**

**Shirou: No reason at all, just forget about me. Go have fun in Heroes.**

**Lysithea: Hang on, are you upset about me being in Heroes?**

**Shirou: No, no...why would I be?**

**Lysithea: Then why do sounds so unsatisfied. Wait, what is this drawing? Is that...you, in a Heroes chibi model?**

**Shirou: Yeah, so what? Can't I dream?**

**Lysithea: I see now, you're upset you didn't get into Heroes. Why didn't you say so? Surely you can still make it?**

**Shirou: Not a chance. I'm an OC character, not an official one, so there's no way that I'm going to make it in. Giving me hope that I can be in would be a cruel joke.**

**Lysithea: Um...**

**Shirou: But eh, whatever, that gives me more time to roll for you in the game.**

**Lysithea: R-really? Shirou, you're rolling for? That's...**

**Shirou: Yeah, I'm rolling for you so I can discard you to smite you. **

**Lysithea: ...**

**Shirou: What's the matter? Why do you look angry?**

**Lysithea: Shirou...you...**

**Shirou: Hey, hey, calm down, your hands are glowing black!**

**Lysithea: ARE SUCH A MORON!**

**Lysithea then shot Dead Spike at Shirou.**

**Shirou:**** AH, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!**


	10. Chapter 10

7/10, Tuesday, Garreg Mach, evening

"Oi, Mr. bodyguard, I found you," the spearman said wiping off the blood from his spear. "What, no thank you for saving you from this ogre of an assassin?" How in the hell did he find us so quickly? I was sure Garith and I were careful backtraacking to Garreg Mach.

"Shirou, who is he," Ly asked me, her tome still glowing dark purple with a hint of black in there. "I might have withheld some info from you. Remember the cut on my forehead? ...Well, he was the one who gave it to me." "So he's an enemy then." "I wouldn't say enemy, but..." The spearman was cut off when Ly shot a few black spikes at him. Quick on his feet, he slashed them as they came at him.

"You're going to need to be faster than that," the spear boasted with spinning his spear around. "That's impossible, how did he block my attacks!?" "Magic like that has no effect on me." "In that case, Banshee!" Black orbs rose up from the ground descending towards the enemy. They managed to hit all the other assassins except for the spearman, who just sliced them it in halves without any effort.

"My, you're a strong young lady. Mages who have quality magic are truly scary." "Don't underestimate me, I still have more where that came from." She swapped out another tome. It gave a darker and violent aura than the other tomes did. Lysithea's hands were violently shacking as a crest appeared on her hand...

"Hades!" A black hole formed from under the spearman. "I see, so you want to kill me? In that case, I'll show the same animosity."

His spear began to charge up with the same energy he showed off last time we fought and with the same pose. He was going to throw his spear with magic again. "Lysithea, launch your spell!" "I'm...trying...but." She was struggling to even use it. "Behold, a spear that hits any target: **Gugneir!**" The instant before he threw it, I hurled myself at Lysithea, pushing her out of the path of the spear. The energy rippled throughout the space near us. It flew over Maria's head as it barely missed her, and crashed far away from us. Even so, I could see and hear the damage it did.

"Damn, you came in at the last second, but eh, I don't mind." He held out his hand and the spear came flying back to him. "His spear, it flew back to him!? But not only that, but the impact was that of an explosion," Lysithea observantly explained. She was right, it was more than enough to pierce through a human's body with relative ease.

"My, I'd say that was intense. Perhaps we should call it time out," the spearman jarringly called. "Are you serious?" "Yeah, besides, all I wanted to do was talk anyway. What do you say?" I wasn't expecting him to just want to talk, but it was better than fighting I suppose. "Fine, let's talk then. However, I don't think talking outside with all these assassins will do." "You're right, let's talk somewhere more appropriate."

Garreg Mach, Classy tavern, evening

The tavern we were sitting in was empty, the bartender was some good bastard that was just minding his own business. The atmosphere in here felt classy, sophisticated, quiet, but also suffocating with the hint of danger. My present company was sitting in the back corner table with assassins watching them.

"I like this place, quiet, nobody to annoy us while we talk. Aren't I right." "Sure, Mr. Spearman." "That's what you've been calling me? Man, that's such a lame substitute for a name." He acted silly about it, but he's just pretending. "Then what's your real name, " I asked him. "It's **Yoshio.**" That name...

"Does that name strike a chord in you?" "Nah, I didn't take you for a foreigner, that's all." "Heh, I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment. But yeah, I'm a foreigner, just like you. In fact, I'm from the same country as you." His words stopped me from taking a sip from my drink, stirring up the ice inside.

"What, it's your fault for making it obvious, your fighting style is akin to this fact, and the shape of your wooden sword; it was a dead giveaway." Shouldn't be surprised that he was able to figure it out due to what he stated. "Is that so, well you got me." I finished my drink in one gulp. The drink refreshed my throat with the cooling, minty taste.

"But why does that matter?" "The fact we are from the same country is a pretty big deal. Especially since you have the moves of a man who's fought in fiercer battles... Especially in 'that'."

I didn't show any hint of surprise this time, I just gazed at my glass. "What do you want," I asked him, peaking at the back table the girls were sitting at. "What I want is simple: I want your power." "Come again?" "I want you to help me." "With what?" "Toppling the current order of things in our country."

I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. His face was dead serious, there was no joke to be had. "Why the hell would I do that? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard." "Dumb as it may be, it's what must be done." "Uh-huh, and why is that?" "Because of the state of our country, we're growing weaker by the year." "Is that so?" "Not only that, but we lost our pride, our honor, and our dignity as warriors! So, we need to reclaim what we lost." His passion was showing, and it was misplaced. "By fighting the current government of the country?" "Yes, fighting them is the only way we can reclaim our titles as Samurai," he stated with verbose. I sighed out loud. "Okay, but what does Maria have to do with it," I asked him. "You think I took this job without realizing who she was? I know about the weapons she has produced and their various legends in history. Not only that, but I know about some of their magical weapons, the ones they make in secret for certain Nobles. But with those weapons and your expertise in combat, I know we can turn the tides. Besides, the current government hasn't been active for more than five years. If we attack while they're not at a capable strength, then we can crush them."

All of that, everything he just said...

"Wow, you're a real dumbass, aren't you?" I got up from my seat while turning the glass bottle upside down. "Where are you going," Yoshio asked as he edged towards his weapon. "I'm leaving, this is a waste of my time." "What, do you not get what we're trying to do here!? Do you not get why this is so important!?" "No, I do, it's just stupid and I want no part of it. So can I go, and while we're at it, let them go and leave Maria alone, she has nothing to do with your cause."

I walked over to the girls who were sitting with some assassins. "Come on, we're leaving." They were about to take their weapons out but stopped themselves after their boss's signal. The girls got out of the booth and followed right behind me.

"By the way, may inquire of what your name is, swordsman," Yoshio politely asked. "Shirou." "Shirou, I'm going to give a dilemma: hand me Mauser and join me, or, we'll kill you, and take her. So, what do you say, come back here tomorrow and..." "Screw you, I'd rather beat all your asses than fight with guys who're willing to kill a child for some stupid goal... So, tomorrow onward, I'll fight you all until I break your jaw with my own sword.

I opened the door to the outside of the bar. Ly and Maria went out first... "By the way, you don't lose your honor because you lose a title such as warrior or samurai," I commented to counter his earlier statement. After that, I closed the door behind me.

...

Yoshio sat in his seat, drinking from his mug. His thoughts were on the last thing Shirou said to him, _"You don't lose your honor because you lose a title such as warrior or a samurai"_. What the hell does he mean by that, Yoshio thought. "Sir, should we go and kill them now," one of Yoshio's assassins asked. "No, I'll give them a grace period. Tomorrow night, the client will be here in Mach, so we'll do it tomorrow night. If you see him in town, tail him and report back to me if he meets up with anyone. And tell me when you spot the clientz he's due here tomorrow." "Yes, sir." The assassins continued to drink on through the night. Yoshio, however, was fixated on Shirou and his view on his goals.

"Some stupid goal, eh? Even if it is, I won't give up on it, I shall reclaim our honor, no matter who needs to die."

Officer's academy, Lysithea's room, evening

We snuck into the academy which was easy as all hell at night. We ended up in Ly's dorm room, it was cluttered with books on the walls and under her bed. "By the gods," Maria paused. "...This place is horrible," I ended off for her. "Sorry for the mess, I meant to clean it but I couldn't get around to it," Ly said. "How does one get any sleep in such a cluttered room," Maria asked. "It's not... too bad." "No, this is bad," I corrected her. She shot a stare at me, it was one of annoyance.

"Gah, nevermind my room, why are you in here with me!?" "Yikes, calm down. I brought Maria in here because I need to leave her with you." "Why me?" "It is much better for me if she were to bunk with you for the night and possibly half a day the next day." "What, why do I have to? I don't even know what's going on." Right, I guess I would have to tell her... Nope, ain't happening.

"Listen, don't worry about it, just take care of her for a bit and she'll be out of your hair by the end of tomorrow, " I explained to her frankly. "But still, what is going on, and why are those people after her?" "..." "Come on, answer me!" "Sorry, but..." I put my hand above her head. "You must be this tall to get an answer." She immediately stomped my foot with the force of a god.

"Ow! That hurt!" "Don't make fun of me!" "It was just a joke, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!." You would think a person with such a small build would pack a punch in their foot; like seriously, what the hell!? But she can't know anymore that she already knows.

"I don't know what's going with the girl. All I know is that she was in danger and I helped her, nothing else to it. So will you let her stay here, at least until tomorrow?"

Lysithea sat down on her bed with her arms crossed. "You don't seem to be beating around the bush on this, but why don't we report this to the knights?" Not good, that would complicate my work if they began to ask questions about who Maria is. More importantly, about me and Garith.

"Now-" "Talking to the knights would be a very detrimental thing for me," Maria answered with sophistication. "Why?" "I fear I am somewhat associated with those assassins, so if the knights were to question why they're after me I fear I'll get into trouble."

Was she ready to just use that excuse? It makes her sound suspicious than it does innocent.

"So, we can't go to the knights? *sigh* This quite the mess. Fine, I'll let her stay here for tonight. But what are we going to do in the morning?" Well that was easier than expected. Glad Maria busted out her excuse. "Leave her in here for a few hours while we go to our classes. After that, I'll take care of the rest." Feeling as if I just sorted everything I think it was time for me to make my exit.

"Also, Ly, are you alright," I asked her. "I am. I didn't take any injuries during the fight so-" "No, I mean with the magical overload." "How do you...?" "I don't use magic but I know when I see someone pushing themselves beyond their limit." She didn't bother to argue against me. I scratched the back of my head. "Then again, it's none of my business how you use your power, I was just asking how you were feeling is all."

Ending my question, I closed the door behind me. Today was a taxing day, but what happened tonight was truly draning. We were lucky to get saved by our own enemy at the last second. That being said, that Yoshio character is rather dangerous, he killed his own man without a second thought, and it makes sense as to why.

"If he's really from that country, then I might need to get serious about this...

...

The young girl who was asleep on Lysithea's bed began to awaken to a lit lantern. Its light was dim but good enough to illuminate a small area. Lysithea was sitting down at her desk, reading, and writing without any trouble. She went from sentence to sentence within a mere second, taking in the information without going back to re-read it.

"What in the devil is with the light," Maria irritatedly grumbled. "Sorry, did the light wake you?" Lysithea responded softly. "Yes." "I'm sorry, but I'll have to keep it on for while." Maria wasn't too bothered by it, so she didn't raise a complaint. She was however curious as to why Lysithea was awake at a late hour.

"What are you doing?" "Studying." "Oh my, you're quite the diligent student." "Thank you, but it's not just from being a student." "Pray tell," Maria curiously asked. "I need as much knowledge as possible, and as soon as possible." "For what reason?" "It's a personal matter." "I see, say no more then." Maria found it pointless to pry into personal matters if they are not meant to be seen.

"May I ask you something, Maria?" "What is it?" "You're a noble, aren't you?" Maria's eyebrow raised from the accusation. "The way you talk and hold yourself in such a dignified way that it leaves me to believe that you're a noble."

Her observation skills were sharp is what Maria thought. She knew there was no point to lying about it but she wasn't going to reveal who she was exactly, if possible.

"Yes, I am." "Then those people who are after you are..." "People trying to kill me not out of affiliation, but because of my standing." That made the most sense to Lysithea, but what's there to gain from it escapes her. "What's the reason the bandits want to kill you for then?" "I have the foggiest idea of why or who hired them to kill me. All I know is that they wish for my death. Saying it aloud like that makes it almost scary... Almost." Lysithea could tell behind her superiority and grand-standing, she was scared. She was able to tell because there's always a hint in their voice.

"You truly are courageous, Maria," Lysithea complimented to help her keep up her tough act. "It's only natural, people like me need to keep a strong face, no matter what; even in the most trying of times, we must be steeled." Not many nobles are true to such a testament. They try to act virtuously than they actually are. Lysithea believed that it's from the false-hood to keep up the appearance of someone respectable, but this falls flat in reality. However, based on how Maria described being steeled showed that she was against the notion of acting pseudo noble for the sake of being humble, but for the sole purpose of acting as a superior. Lysithea thought the same thing, and from this she formed respect for the young noble. However, there was something else on her mind.

"I'm still a bit skeptical about how you've come to meet Shirou? Him just coincidentally meeting you in the woods doesn't sound about right... Then again, I guess there's no real point on me learning on how you met him. But I just wonder how I got myself tangled in this mess by happenstance."

Maria let out a playful but yet condescending snicker. It had caught Lysithea's attention.

"What's so funny?" "Nothing, I'm just curious about something?" "Odd way to show it, but about what?" "I'm just curious about the nature of your relationship with that man." "Huh, why?" "You two seem close." "Not at all, we're barely acquainted with each other. Though he can be quite the pain, he's quite rude, bad-mannered, brutish, and a slacker who is always wasting time outside of classes. However, I wouldn't go as far to say he's a terrible or inconsiderate person, rather, he's just somewhat of an overly jerkish person is all."

These things, while sincere, weren't meant to show hate but minor annoyance while tolerating him. "Then why put up with him?" "Because... There's something I need to know, and so I tolerate him for now." Maria was getting a tad bit more intrigued by Lysithea's goals. More than that, it felt as if she was having fun talking to Lysithea. As a noble, Maria never had the chance to indulge in small talk that wasn't just fake pleasantries with other nobles. She wasn't complaining about it, it's her duty, not as a noble, but a Mauser. On that , she thought to herself something...

"Duty as Mauser," she mummbled to herself. "Did you say something," Lysithea asked. "Nothing, I've said nothing... Actually, Lysithea, I have to ask you a question: what is duty to you?" "Duty?"

Lysithea gently put her pen down. "I would say duty is an essential part of a person who has a heavy responsibility or a set obligation they need to fulfill. But, mine has nothing to do with statues, titles, or social obligations. The duty that I need to complete is something that is made by me, and me alone, and so, I need to complete it alone..."

Maria felt a strong determination from Lysithea. Her duty was a personal one, one that only she can accomplish. It doesn't feel as if she's being strangled by it, but rather, encouraged by her duty to strive for better...

"Was I able to satiate your question," Lysithea inquired. "Yes, you were able to... I think I'll head to sleep now. You should do so as well." "I will in a bit..."

Maria tucked herself back into the blankets and lied down on the semi-soft pillow. She thought about what her duties are, what her personal duty is, and who it was for. She dreamed about her parents tonight, but this dream would serve to help her make up her mind.

7/11, Wednesday, Garreg Mach, afternoon

It was almost the evening, the time the grace period from Yoshio ends. I went to class to avoid confrontation with Byleth on my recent lack of attendance (which did happen anyway). Lysithea was still in a seminar, listening to a professor drone on and on about the applications of magic with a Crest. It wasn't the fact I couldn't understand it (somewhat) but it sounds really boring. Eventually, though, the minimum amount of students came out of the class. Lysithea was dead last to come out.

"Oi," I greeted. "Were you waiting for me?" "Need to go pick up Maria from your room." "Of course, come on." We went off to Ly's room.

"So, how was your guest for last night?" "She was quite the proper guest to have." Proper? Not what I was expecting really. "You two get along," I asked. "We did... You know she's a noble, don't you?" "How do you know that?" "She made it too obvious." Pretty damn observant, I just hope she didn't connect the dots.

"I'm not going to ask how you really came across her, but I do have to ask why you saved her?" She wants to see if I'm actually helping her or just using her to make a profit. I can't say there isn't a profit to be made from protecting Maria, but it's more than money to me.

"I'm not using her or doing it for money, I'm a simple Ronin who'll help when he can." "Is that so...?" "Don't believe me?" "I do, despite how crass you can be, you don't come off as if you would use somebody. However, I just wanted to be sure and now I am... Also, what's a Ronin?" "Nothing at all." At least she's not gonna ask me how I really met Maria. Nonetheless, we made it to Ly's room. She unlocked the door and pushed open the door...

"Huh!?" Maria was gone, she was nowhere in the room. "Ly, where's Maria?" "I don't know, she was in this room when I left!" Damnit, she must've left on her own! "We gotta look for her!" "Where do you think she had gone to?" Don't have a single clue where she could've gone. She must've left something in the room. Looking at Ly's table, I found an open note...

"I know where she's at!" I ran out of the room with the letter in my hand. Maria was at Garith's bar, she said she wanted to talk to me there. What she was thinking is unclear, but I know that once I see her I'm going to give a giant scolding. Reaching the bar, I saw that there was some mean looking guys surrounding a carrage. I pushed open the door. Maria was sitting at a table with someone in front of her.

"Maria!" "Shirou, there you are. We need to talk." "You're telling me. Why the hell did you run off by yourself!? You know there are people trying to kill you right? Who is this guy?" "Don't speak with that tone! This 'guy' is my uncle: **Vlad Mauser!** Show him much needed respect," Maria angrily scolded me. "Maria, it is alright, he is simply on guard. You must be one of her bodyguards," Vlad guessed. "Yeah, I am." "Thank you for taking care of my niece." "No problem, but why are you here?" "I'm here to take my niece with to a safer location. The severity of the situation has changed from what I heard from Maria. It's too dangerous to be in Garreg Mach now that the assassins are attacking in droves at night." "It's safe enough in the academy walls, plus I'll be aware of an attack if it happens." "I must insist that you allow me to take her. I have top of the line mercenaries on guard with me. Rest assured that these men will be able to guard her."

Top of the line won't cut it with the assassins after the little princess's life, especially with that spearman around.

"I know you probably paid top dollar to have those mercenaries of yours but they're not gonna cut it. There's this spearman and--" "Shirou, how long will you prattle on," Maria asked in a belittling manor. "What?" "I've decided that I will go with my uncle and we'll go back to my castle." "You're kidding me? That's the last place you should go back to." "Did I ask for your opinion? You are but a mere arms for hire, I am your contractor, learn your place in this triangle."

Her condescension was different from how she normally acts. It was dismissive and less sadistic. "I shall go back to my castle and that is final. I will not allow petty assassins to disturb my work, for I am a Mauser and I shall carry out my duty no matter what!" Determination was guiding her, and it would be that determination that would get her killed.

"This isn't a game! If you act like you won't get killed because you act tough then you'll just get killed quicker that way!" "Is that all," she simply asked, acting as if I said nothing at all. I guess whatever I say to her is just gonna bounce off her like rubber. "Yeah, I'm done..." I sat down on a chair behind me and slumped my shoulders.

"I am truly glad that she hired someone as caring as you." I didn't respond to his compliment. "We should get going. Maria, let us be on our way."

The both of them stood up from their chairs, pushing them in.

"Before I forget, here is your pay." Vlad handed me a large pouch full of coin and bullions. "I thank you again for taking care of my niece, I am forever in your debt."

They pushed open the door, Maria was the last one to walk out. But there was something I had to say before she left.

"Hey, Maria." I stopped her before she walked out. She didn't say anything but gave me her attention. "You should give up trying to shoulder your family name. Just live your childhood for now. After all, you are a kid." "What utter rubbish. I don't have time for such trivialities," she easily dismissed. "It's not trivial, it's important. Burdening yourself with high expectations isn't something a normal kid should do." "But I am not a normal child, I am a Mauser." "Who cares, your being is not defined by a title or last name," I belowed. "Mine is, however. No matter how you try to view this, my fate is all the same in the end." "Stop being so stubborn! Why do you have to be the head right now? Because you're a Mauser, because it's your duty, or is it because you feel an ache of twisted guilt over your parents dying and leaving you with their business?" "...!" "If that's the case then you're--" "Silence! I will not allow this to go on any further! How dare you insult my mother and father's name!" "I'm not, not in the least." "Then what is that you wish of me!? To not carry my family's legacy onward? To let it crumble in the sands of time, to allow their legacy to be forgotten," she raised her voice at me. I felt the same urge to do so as well. "Their business isn't their only legacy! Besides, can't your uncle carry on the business?"

My feeling was growing intense and hotter as Inpoured out what I thought. But as I was becoming a tad bit calmer by the second there was a thought in my mind that was popping up: her uncle. There was something about her uncle that made me a bit curious.

"Maria." "What is it," she responded, irritable by me calling her name. "Where was he during the assassination business?" "Why?" "Just answer." "He was in the holy kingdom, conducting business." "Did you send messages to him about your attempted assassination?" "No, I didn't want to alarm him of what was occurring."

This was strange, very strange. If she wasn't communicating with him at all then how did he know to... Wait.

"Maria, who's the one to succeed you if you die?" "I didn't write it yet, but lately me and him have been discussing on making a will, so it would be my uncle would... What relevance does this has to you?" "Not to me, but to you. I think I figured out who wants to kill you."

I took my sword out and went over to the door. It should've been obvious from the start, it was right in front if my face and I totally skimmed over it. No wonder he knew she was in Garrag Mach. I opened the door to find a mage in front of me with a tome open. There was no window to react, I was blown back with the might of wind into the various bottles of alcohol. My body reacked of booze and was was drenched from head to toe. The blow wasn't that bad but my magical resistance was pretty bad, so the spell itself probably did some damage to me. Trying to get up, I used the still intact table.

"Yo, Shirou, sorry about the door, we'll pay you back. But we'll be taking the girl home now, if you want to save her, come to the Mauser castle. There, we'll talk about the future. Until then, fair well."

He ran out of the bar with Maria in his grasp. "Wait, you son of a bitch!" The assassins were in my way but I quickly dispatched them without a second thought. By the time I got out of the bar, they were already riding off in a carriage. Running after it wasn't something I was allowed since there were more assassins in my way.

"Get the hell out of my way." The mages took out their tomes in order to subdue me but it was no use, I was faster than their tongues . Some of the spells we're shot at me but they never made the mark. In the end I was able to knock out the mages, that just left the whole other crowd of archers on the roof and melee fighters in front of me.

"Well, ain't this pretty? I guess it really is like old times." I took a stance and I got ready. "Very well, come at me! Huh?" There was something happening in the back. A beast was trampling through the small army of assassins like nothing. The archers on the roof were disposed of in a hastily fashion. The beast got closer and closer, I was beginning to realize that it wasn't a beast but a man on a horse. It was not just some guy, it was Garith.

"ROCK!" He screamed as he slashed and ran through the assassins with a giant two-handed blade that he used one hand for. He stopped in front of me. His face was cut up and he had some injuries here and there.

"What happened to you, old man," I asked him with a sign of relief. "No time, we gotta get Maria and go! Where is she," he asked in a panic. "She's going to Mauser castle!" "We have no time to lose, we gotta go!" "Jobs already over, old man. We got paid." "Who cares, that girl is still in danger, so as far as we're concerned the job isn't really over!"

He had a hell of a point. Job isn't over until we complete our objective, not when it's half-assed. Besides, I was just playing around with him to see how he'd react.

"Let's go then, old man!" I climbed onto the horse, with little room to work with I got into a feety position. The group of assassins seemed to have more archers and mages than we thought. This was probably going to get rough but we need to breakthrough.

"Blizzard!" Ice jetted out towards the archers and the assassins in front of us. They were frozen solid in magically encased ice.

"Shirou, what's going on?" Lysithea came up from behind us, panting heavily. She must've ran all the way from the academy.

"Maria got captured by some assassins. I'm going after them, go get the knights and have these guys arrested!" She looked puzzled for a quick second but was able to cast that confusion away moments later.

"I have no idea behind the reason why these people want Maria dead, or why you're mixed up in the center of it all. But it doesn't matter, just go save Maria!" She was right, she was caught in the middle of all this without any reason as to why this was truly happening and it should stay that way. But I could tell that she was serious about me rescuing Maria.

"Gotcha kid, I'll save her no problem at all! Let's go, old man!" "Got it, let's hit it!" "Wait, did you just call me a kid!?" Garith kicked the horse and we went off after Maria and her captures. The battle ahead will be hard, that's a guarantee, so I'll need to pull all the stops.

"Hang on Maria, we're coming!"

* * *

**Made a whole skit but it didn't format well when I published the chapter, so I'll put in the next chapter... Also hello.**


	11. Chapter 11

Fodlan, Mauser territory, midnight

The thunderous galloping of the black horse we were riding rode through the village of Blacksmiths. The houses were dark, and the smell of melted steel permeated the air. We were almost at the Mauser household at this rate.

"So that's what happened," I loudly asked Garith since the wind was pushing past us at an incredible speed. "I was trying to gather some clue as to what was going on and who was. behind the attack. I investigated the assassins that attacked Mauser castle the night we were there. They were just three-bit mercs that were willing to take on a job like this, or at least I thought they were three-bit. I recognized their **Guild emblem **on their bodies. They belong to a mercenary guild that takes on assassinations jobs for royalty." "For royalty?" "Yeah, so that narrowed down the possible reasons as to who would want her dead. I checked their gear next, wanna know what I found?" "What?" "Mauser produced weapons." "Really? But can't you buy those anywhere?" "Via certain vendors, yes and that's what I thought, but no, my hunch told me otherwise. I investigated the blacksmiths next. Vlad Mauser secretly had one of the best blacksmiths commission several swords, daggers, and a lance, one that can handle large portions of magical energy." "So that's how you figured it was the uncle?" "Yeah, that and his position in the family." "You mean his inheritance?" "Exactly, I got the info from Maria's personal attendant that she signed a will before the assassination attempts." "So we're looking at the typical case of spoiled asshole wanting the family business?" "Looks that way, it was obvious too." "Yep, sure as hell is."

The details behind this don't matter anymore, we already know the facts now. Still, this isn't an uncommon case where a family member tries to kill another, it's like a common trend amongst nobles that weren't able to inherit money, land, or business if they were a merchant family. Usually, it would be a sibling who tries their hand at killing one of their brothers or sisters." "That's the usual suspect, but nope, it was the uncle. Gotta say I'm kind of surprised."

The horse stormed right up the steps. The ride was bumpy, to say the least, the higher we elevated, the more I thought we were going to fall off the saddle.

"This horse is..." "I know, it's insane, I got from a bet. It's bit only fast, but crazy as hell!" "That's not a good thing, old man!" The horses jumped up from the stairs and roughly landed on the ground. In our sights were a bunch of assassins in our way.

"Well, looks like they were expecting us," Garith said. "Seems that way." "Then you better buckle down, cause we're going in!" He whipped the horse. We were going straight for the door into the manor. As the old man said, I buckled down and got ready for impact. "Hold on tight!" The black horse destroyed the front door, as well as knocked any assassin out of the way. I jumped off the horse, landing on one of the assassins.

"Way to make an entrance, old man!" "No problem, and I'm not old!" The room immediately filled up with assassins that came from other ends of the grand hall. Garith got off his horse with his ridiculously gigantic bastard sword.

"Rock, get going, I'll make sure they don't get in your way." "You sure?" "Don't worry, I'll keep them distracted until you rescue the princess, so go!" He gripped his sword with both hands, readying himself for a fight. I can say whatever I want about the old man, but at the end of the day, he was a man to not be underestimated. Leaving this in his hands was alright.

"Okay then, I'll let you rough it out down here." "Thanks, I'll see you in a bit!" I ran up the stairs, not looking back to see if he was going to be alright. There's no time to indulge in that luxury...

Mauser castle, Rooftop, midnight

Breaking open the door with the swing of my sword, I rushed through the entranceway to the center of the roof. Maria and Yoshio weren't anywhere to be sighted. The assassins on the lower floor told me I could find Maria on the rooftop, so where the hell is she?

"You're late, Shirou!" Behind me, on top of the entranceway to was Yoshio and Maria. The little girl seemed to be asleep while the lanceman held her by the collar.

"I'm going to ask you this once, let her go," I demanded, ice as a tone. "No, I won't, not until you join me." "I'm not in the mood for jokes." "It is not a joke, this is a very serious matter." "You know I'm just gonna say no, so get down here so we can finish this." "You're right, I suppose talking it out won't do." He dropped Marie and jumped from his higher position.

"No more running, we settle this with our weapons and honor on the line." "No need for honor." "Ah yes, I forgot, someone like you would have no idea what it means to have honor, or to even wage it." "My life will do just fine." "Then I'll steal your life!" He charged in with his spear, stretching it at me. My sword arm moved like a flash, striking at the tip of his spear. The next move was to strike him while I had the chance to strike at his head. The spearman took an unexpected defensive measure by letting go of his spear, grabbing the wrists of my sword arm to stop my movement then proceeded to flip me overhead to the ground. He kicked his spear to his hand, I rolled out of the way before he could stab it into me. He pierced the ground, like hitting a fish in the sea.

"Nice thought I had you there for a second." It would take more to catch me like that. That being said, he was able to catch me off guard with the flip, a martial arts practitioner. There was no time to theorize this, he was coming at me with his spear in hand. He swung his spear with only one hand, acting as if it was a sword, he wielded it from the back of the spear. It was good for fast attacks but it was bad since it can be easily deflected. With one strike, I hit the spear, knocking the spear off course. I had another chance to strike, I need to hit him square in the chest if I want to do damage.

"Got you!" He turned his body, avoiding my sword while he struck me in the chest. Yoshio was going to strike again. I tried to counter but he stopped me in my tracks and continued to strike at me using Martial Arts. Any counter I tried to do was disturbed or blocked, by the end, he hit me with front palm hit.

"What's the matter, I thought you would put up more of a challenge than this. Most disappointing." He picked up his spear from the ground, as I picked up my sword. He was right, I need to put up more of a fight, I have to stop thinking about anything else, all thoughts need to be killed off... Nothing shall remain. My hands were stable, my breathing was silent, my mind was devoid of all outside thought. I held up my sword to the side of my head while my non-dominant hand was behind the butt of my sword. I stare was directed only at him, he was the only thing I could see, and the only thing I need to destroy. Yoshio began his charge against me. In 7 seconds we would clash, but in 3, I was going to strike first. So as 3 three seconds passed, I moved. He froze in place, I was right in front of him. Before we were about 20 away from one another, but I closed the gap in a second or two. Before he could react, I swung my sword across his chest. Shifting soon after to move behind him to slash his back.

"You bastard!" He swung his spear with rage, I blocked it, I hit him on the side of his arm in retaliation. Without any choice, he retreated to his own space.

"Hahaha!" His hysterical laughter could be heard in the night. "I knew it, I knew I was right! Those lightning-fast movements, those merciless strikes, and those cold eyes housing only bloodlust and death! This is truly wonderful, truly splendid!" "What are you going on about?" "I knew you were the one, the one who would truly save our country. A warrior breed for the battlefield, a legend among warriors:** A** **Manslayer!**"


End file.
